Michael Jordan jersey from the "Last Dance" season to be auctioned for $10 million
The jersey from Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals is heading to auction and may surpass the $10.1 million record set by a jersey worn by the star in the first game of that same series. The high valuation is partly due to the fact that during Jordan's era, there was no regulated procedure for releasing game-worn items to the market, making this jersey exceptionally rare.
The Michael Jordan jersey from Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals will be auctioned on September 15, with an estimated value of at least $10 million. The item may even break the sales record of $10.1 million, set in 2022 for the jersey from Game 1 of that same final series between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz. The estimate reflects the current strength of the memorabilia market, which has grown significantly since 2022.
The sale is managed by the Jupiter auction house, and the jersey will be displayed at the Free Parking gallery in New York from September 15 to 20 and at Canon Collectibles in Los Angeles from September 21 to 26. The authenticity was verified by the external authenticator MeiGray, confirming it was indeed worn by the star in Game 3 of the series on June 7, 1998, which ended in a 96-54 victory. That season, which concluded with Jordan's sixth and final championship with the Bulls, is famously known as Michael Jordan's "Last Dance."
"The Last Dance is indeed one of the defining chapters in the history of sports," Jupiter's global director of sales, Caitlin Donovan, told Reuters.
Collectors are comparing this sale to two major market benchmarks. The current record for a basketball jersey sold at auction is $10.1 million, paid in 2022 for Jordan's jersey from Game 1 of that same 1998 series. The overall record for a sports item used in competition belongs to a jersey worn by legendary batter Babe Ruth in the 1932 Major League Baseball World Series, which sold in 2024 for a record $24.12 million.
These astronomical sums reflect changing dynamics in sports memorabilia: during Jordan's playing days, there was no regulated system for releasing stars' jerseys to the market after every game, making items like this much rarer than those of modern stars. Jordan remains the most searched athlete on eBay, with sales related to him reaching approximately $19.4 million last July.
