A game-worn, autographed Michael Jordan road jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals has been privately sold for $14 million, an auction house announced Monday. It is being called the highest price ever paid for a piece of basketball memorabilia.
Pennsylvania-based Hunt Auctions announced the private treaty sale and identified the buyer as Miami real estate investor Ron Firman. The red jersey is the one Jordan wore in Game 2 of that series on June 5, 1998, when he and the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz to even the matchup at a game apiece. Jordan and the Bulls went on to win the series in six games, the sixth and final title of his Hall of Fame career. That 1997-98 season was the subject of the 10-episode "Last Dance" documentary series released in 2020.
"While Michael Jordan's importance within the sports memorabilia marketplace has long been established it has now escalated to an elite asset class more typically reserved for iconic works of art," said David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions. "We are very pleased to have been able to facilitate this historic sale which serves as another benchmark for our industry."
The $14 million price would be the second-biggest known cost for a game-worn jersey, behind the $24.12 million paid in 2024 for the jersey Babe Ruth wore during his "called shot" home run in the 1932 World Series. This sale is at least the third time a Jordan jersey from the 1998 Finals has fetched $10 million or more. A Game 1 jersey sold for about $10.1 million in 2022, and a Game 3 jersey was auctioned last month for about $12.3 million.
The jersey was originally bought from the Bulls by a private collector in 2003, Hunt said, and has had only one change of hands since. Interest in anything tied to the 1998 Finals remains intense. In 2023, a pair of Air Jordan sneakers he wore in Game 2 against the Jazz sold at Sotheby's for $2.2 million.
Source: ESPN NBA · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing