His presence at NBA games is undeniable. To paraphrase the old E.F. Hutton stock brokerage commercial, when Jimmy
Goldstein walks into an NBA arena, people turn their heads.
Goldstein is the proverbial NBA superfan who always has super cool courtside seats, and shows up at arenas all across America donning super fashionable eye-popping clothes that he purchased straight from Paris, where he travels to four times a year. But it was as if Goldstein was destined to become the NBA’s coolest and most well-connected fan.
The NBA’s inaugural season was the 1949-50 campaign. A few months later in 1950 Goldstein, who was born and raised in Milwaukee, became one of its most loyal followers.
“At the age of 15 in 1955, I had a non-paying job as the statistician for the TV announcer of the Milwaukee Hawks (who have since moved to Atlanta),” Goldstein told Mavs.com. “I have been hooked on the NBA ever since.”
And NBA fans have been hooked on Goldstein. In the world of NBA fandom, Goldstein is a big-time celebrity who draws as much attention from fans as the players themselves.
“In Oklahoma, they make me feel like I’m the world’s biggest celebrity,” Goldstein said. “I 
get photo requests that are non-stop.
“In LA also, after the game, people ask me for photos. But not like Oklahoma.”
Goldstein has attended all five games in this Western Conference semifinal series between the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder. And in the arenas in both cities, he has floor seats near midcourt.
“I have a prime seat right next to the TNT table in Dallas, which I also have in Oklahoma,” Goldstein said. “It’s exactly the same seat – dead center courtside.”
Game 5 between the Mavs and Thunder was the 24th playoff game Goldstein has attended during a 26-day span without having two consecutive games in the same city. And he attended at least one playoff game in every city in the Western Conference in the first round this season, except in Minnesota.
In other words, Goldstein is an NBA basketball junkie.
So, how does Goldstein get those prime-time seats that fans covet? He pays for them, of course, via his numerous connections.
“I’ve got different methods in each city, but I’m not so well-connected with the Eastern Conference,” said Goldstein, who lives in Los Angeles. “Although right now I’m having a problem (getting tickets) in Minnesota, because the fans have been so deprived (of playoff games) for so many years that no one wants to sell their tickets.”
Goldstein, 84, said he’s able to purchase a courtside playoff ticket 99 percent of the time.
“Occasionally,” he said, “in the playoffs when it gets to the conference finals or the NBA Finals, I have to settle for something else.”
Goldstein started playing basketball at the age of five when his parents put a hoop in their driveway. His love for the game started percolating at that time, and he eventually wound up at Stanford.
“I played on my high school team, but was cut from the Stanford team,” Goldstein said. “I have worked in property investments since college, and still do.
“But that 
work has always taken a backseat to basketball.”
That work, however, has enabled Goldstein to live a lavish lifestyle. Rumor even circulated that Goldstein had purchased the home previously owned by former NBA icon Wilt Chamberlain, but he squashed that rumor.
“I was under contract to buy it, but after getting estimates on what it would cost to fix it up, I passed,” Goldstein said. “But I have a very famous house in LA. It’s up in the hills with a view of the ocean and all of LA.”
As NBA fans go, Goldstein is the cream of the crop. And he has the sheepskins to prove it.
“At the (Naismith Memorial) Basketball Hall of Fame (in Springfield, Mass,),” Goldstein said, “there now exists a James Goldstein Fan Room, which contains basketball memorabilia from myself and other well-known fans.”
More than anything, Goldstein has charisma. He even invited some Mavs employees to his home two years ago.
“He is a legend,” former Mavs governor Mark Cuban said. “The man has met everyone and probably has seen more NBA playoff games than any human ever on the planet. And he is a good guy.”
Goldstein has a very special bond with NBA players and NBA governors that can’t be broken.
“What makes my in-person game experience unique is that I am friends with most of the team owners and coaches, as well as ma
ny players on each team,” he said. “I always arrive at the games 90 minutes early to chat with my friends from the teams.”
Those chats are sometimes more than just about basketball, because Goldstein is so personable and so well-liked.
“Every season I end up seeing at least 100 games (in person), including about 35 playoff games,” he said. “The 100 games a year has been going ever since the Clippers move to LA (from San Diego in 1984).
“Overall, in my lifetime I’ve seen more than 5,000 games (in person). I’ve seen almost the entire history of the NBA.”
And in that history, one game that stands out the most to Goldstein occurred in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals in Miami between the Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. Miami trailed, 94-89, with 28 seconds remaining, and were seemingly saruch a lock to lose the game and the championship that many Heat fans had already left the 
arena.
But a three-pointer by Ray Allen with five seconds left sent the game into overtime, and the Heat prevailed, 103-100, and also won Game 7 and the series. Goldstein, meanwhile, had a front row seat for that epic game.
“I was standing right behind Ray Allen, and I told him after the game I could have blocked your shot,” Goldstein said. “He said, ‘I saw the photo, and I know.’ “
Goldstein has attended all five games in this series between the Mavs and Thunder, and will be at American Airlines Center on Saturday at 7 p.m. when the Mavs attempt to close out this series against the Thunder. Yet, as his travels take him to numerous NBA cities, Goldstein has found himself in a bit of a quagmire.
“This is a rough playoff year for me because both LA teams are out, the (Golden State) Warriors are out, Phoenix is out,” Goldstein said. “All the games that would be close to where I live are not happening, so I have to be on the road for a long time.”
X: @DwainPrice
Share and comment