A legendary Michael Jordan jersey worn during his iconic "Last Dance" season with the Chicago Bulls has fetched a staggering $12.3 million (approximately £9.3 million) at auction, setting a brand-new all-time record for any piece of memorabilia associated with the basketball icon.
The historic sale highlights the enduring global appeal and cultural footprint of Jordan’s career, particularly his final championship run with the Chicago Bulls in 1998, which was famously chronicled in the documentary series bearing the same name. The newly auctioned jersey holds profound significance, having been worn by Jordan during game three of the 1998 NBA Finals as the Bulls battled the Utah Jazz in what would prove to be the final championship series of the guard’s storied career with Chicago.
During that unforgettable 1998 series, Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to a hard-fought 4-2 victory over the Jazz, securing his sixth and final NBA Championship ring. Throughout his illustrious career, Jordan reached the pinnacle of team success six times, and his dominance on the grandest stage was underscored by the fact that he was named the NBA Finals’ Most Valuable Player in every single one of those six championship series, a testament to his unmatched clutch performance and competitive drive.
The sale marks a significant milestone in the sports memorabilia market, eclipsing the previous record for a piece of Jordan memorabilia, which had been set at $10.1 million (about £7.6 million). That previous benchmark was established by the sale of the jersey Jordan wore during game one of the same 1998 NBA Finals, demonstrating the immense monetary and historical value collectors place on artifacts from the conclusion of his legendary run with the Bulls.
The coveted jersey was put up for public sale by entrepreneur Ryan Gough and went under the hammer at Joopiter, the digital auction house founded by musician, producer, and cultural entrepreneur Pharrell Williams. Ahead of the auction, specialists at Joopiter had placed an ambitious pre-sale estimated price range of $10 million to $15 million (approximately £7.5 million to £11.3 million), a prediction that the final hammer price ultimately met comfortably within the expected window.
In its official auction posting describing the artifact, Joopiter emphasized the extraordinary historical weight carried by the garment. The auction house noted that few objects in the entire history of sports embody athletic greatness as completely as Michael Jordan’s game three jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals. Worn during the culturally defining period known as the Last Dance, the jersey marks the dramatic culmination of an era that fundamentally transformed basketball from a domestic American sport into a massive global cultural phenomenon. Today, the auction house added, the jersey stands proudly among the most important game-worn sports artifacts ever to come to the open market.
While the $12.3 million price tag represents a monumental figure for basketball collectibles, it also arrives within a broader landscape of soaring values for elite sports heritage items. Despite setting a new benchmark for basketball memorabilia, the record price for any piece of game-worn sports memorabilia overall still belongs to baseball legend Babe Ruth. The famous jersey worn by Ruth when he supposedly "called his shot" during the 1932 World Series was sold for an astonishing $24.1 million (approximately £18.2 million) in 2024, maintaining the top spot for historical sports artifacts while Jordan’s latest auction result solidifies basketball’s place at the pinnacle of modern sports collecting.