A jersey worn by Michael Jordan during the final championship run of his Chicago Bulls career has fetched $12.3m (£9.3m) at auction, setting a new benchmark for game-worn Jordan memorabilia. The sale, confirmed on Thursday, surpasses the previous record for a Jordan item — the $10.1m (£7.6m) paid for his jersey from game one of the same 1998 NBA Finals series.
The garment in question was worn by Jordan in game three of the 1998 Finals, the last season he spent with the Bulls. That campaign, widely known as "The Last Dance" after the acclaimed documentary series that revisited it, ended with Jordan securing his sixth and final NBA Championship in Chicago colours.
Jordan's Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 4-2 in the series, and he was named Finals Most Valuable Player on all six occasions he lifted the Larry O'Brien Trophy. The game three jersey therefore carries significance beyond its fabric: it represents a moment in the middle of a series that would prove to be the final competitive chapter of Jordan's storied Bulls tenure.
The item was consigned by entrepreneur Ryan Gough and sold through Joopiter, the digital auction house founded by musician and designer Pharrell Williams. Ahead of the sale, Joopiter had estimated the jersey would bring between $10m and $15m (£7.5m to £11.3m), a range the final price comfortably fell within.
In its auction listing, Joopiter described the jersey in lofty terms, stating that few objects in sporting history embody greatness as completely as Jordan's game three shirt from the 1998 Finals. The auction house noted it was worn during the Last Dance period and argued that it marks the culmination of an era which transformed basketball into a global cultural phenomenon, placing it among the most important game-worn sports artifacts ever brought to market.
The sale also included another notable piece of Jordan's personal collection: his 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello, which sold for $2.7m (£2m). That figure was four times the existing auction record for that particular model, underlining the premium buyers are willing to pay for objects with a direct connection to the six-time champion.
While the jersey now ranks as the most expensive piece of Jordan memorabilia ever sold, it does not hold the overall record for game-worn sports items. That distinction belongs to the jersey worn by baseball legend Babe Ruth when he "called the shot" during the 1932 World Series, which sold for $24.1m (£18.2m) in 2024. Jordan's shirt therefore sits second on the all-time list, ahead of other iconic garments.
The previous Jordan record, set by the game one jersey from the same Finals series, had already demonstrated the intense demand for items tied to the 1998 championship run. The fact that a game three jersey has now exceeded that price suggests collectors place particular value on garments worn during the later, decisive stages of the series, when the Bulls were closing in on another title.
Interest in Jordan memorabilia has been sustained in part by the 2020 release of "The Last Dance," a documentary series that offered unprecedented access to the Bulls' final championship season. The series introduced Jordan's achievements to a new generation of fans and reinforced his status as a cultural icon, factors that auction specialists say have driven prices for associated artifacts steadily upward.
Jordan's career statistics and honours provide the foundation for this demand. He won six NBA championships with Chicago, six Finals MVP awards, five regular-season MVP awards and remains widely regarded as the greatest player in the history of the sport. His brief return to the court with the Washington Wizards between 2001 and 2003, after coming out of retirement, did not produce further titles but added another layer to his legend.
The scale of the sale reflects a broader surge in the market for sports collectibles, where prices for game-worn items have climbed sharply in recent years. Auction houses have increasingly turned to digital platforms to reach global buyers, and Joopiter's involvement signals how the memorabilia market is intersecting with the worlds of music, fashion and pop culture.
For collectors, the appeal of Jordan's game three jersey lies in its specificity: it can be tied to a precise date, a precise game and a precise moment in the arc of a career that transcended basketball. Items of this kind are finite in number, and as the generation that watched Jordan play ages into peak earning years, competition for them has intensified.
The result also raises questions about where the market goes next. With the Babe Ruth jersey at $24.1m and Jordan's game three shirt now at $12.3m, the ceiling for sports memorabilia continues to rise. Whether any future Jordan item — or another athlete's artifact — can challenge the Ruth record remains an open question, but the trend line suggests buyers are increasingly treating these objects as both cultural trophies and alternative assets.
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