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A piece of basketball history tied to Michael Jordan's final championship run with the Chicago Bulls has rewritten the record books for game-worn Jordan memorabilia, fetching $12.3 million (£9.3 million) at auction.
The jersey Jordan wore during Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals surpassed the previous benchmark for any Jordan item sold at auction, which had stood at $10.1 million (£7.6 million) for his jersey from Game 1 of the same series. The new sale price represents a significant jump of more than $2 million over the earlier record, underlining the enduring commercial power of the six-time champion's name nearly three decades after he last played for Chicago.
The sale was handled by Joopiter, the digital auction house founded by musician and designer Pharrell Williams. The auctioneer had estimated the jersey would sell for between $10 million and $15 million (£7.5 million to £11.3 million), meaning the final figure landed comfortably within the expected range but fell short of the upper ceiling. The item was consigned by entrepreneur Ryan Gough, who put the piece up for sale in a market that has shown remarkable appetite for high-end sports collectibles in recent years.
Jordan wore the jersey during the third game of the 1998 Finals, a series in which Chicago defeated the Utah Jazz 4-2 to claim the franchise's sixth NBA championship. That season, widely known as "The Last Dance" after the acclaimed documentary series that chronicled it, marked Jordan's final campaign with the Bulls before his second retirement from the game. He returned to the court years later for a two-season stint with the Washington Wizards from 2001 to 2003, but the 1998 Finals remain the defining bookend to his Chicago legacy.
The timing and stakes of the series help explain the jersey's extraordinary value. The 1998 Finals pitted Jordan's Bulls against a Jazz team led by Karl Malone and John Stockton, two of the most accomplished players of their generation, in what was widely viewed as Chicago's last realistic shot at a title with its core intact. Jordan was named Finals Most Valuable Player in all six of his championship victories, a record that remains unmatched in the modern era and a central reason why memorabilia from his career commands such premiums.
Joopiter framed the sale in sweeping terms in its auction listing, describing the garment as one of the most significant objects in the history of sport. The auction house said few items embody greatness as completely as the Game 3 jersey, noting that it was worn during "The Last Dance" and represents the culmination of an era that transformed basketball into a global cultural phenomenon. It added that the piece now stands among the most important game-worn sports artifacts ever to reach the market.
The broader market for elite sports memorabilia has expanded dramatically in recent years, with auction houses increasingly courting collectors willing to spend eight figures on items connected to transcendent athletes. The Jordan jersey record comes against that backdrop, but it remains well short of the all-time high for any piece of game-worn sports equipment.
That distinction belongs to the jersey worn by baseball icon Babe Ruth when he famously "called the shot" during the 1932 World Series. That piece sold for $24.1 million (£18.2 million) in 2024, roughly double the price achieved by Jordan's Game 3 jersey. The gap suggests that while Jordan's market is exceptionally strong, Ruth's status as a foundational figure in American sporting mythology still carries a unique premium among collectors.
The auction also featured another significant Jordan item: his 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello, which sold for $2.7 million (£2 million). That figure was four times the previous auction record for that specific model, indicating that the Jordan name alone can lift prices far beyond what comparable assets would otherwise achieve. The result adds to a pattern in which personal property tied to the basketball legend outperforms broader market expectations.
For Jordan's legacy, the sale reinforces the durability of his commercial and cultural standing. Decades after his final championship, items from that era continue to appreciate, driven by a combination of nostalgia among fans who witnessed his career, renewed interest from the documentary series, and a growing cohort of younger collectors who view his era as the golden age of the sport.
The Game 3 jersey carries particular weight because of its connection to a series that represented the end of an era. The Bulls' championship run in 1998 was followed by the breakup of the team's core, including the departure of coach Phil Jackson and the retirements or exits of several key players. That sense of finality has made memorabilia from that specific Finals among the most sought-after in basketball collecting.
The sale also highlights the growing influence of digital auction platforms in the high-end collectibles space. Joopiter's involvement places it alongside established auction houses in handling seven-figure sports artifacts, a sign of how the market has evolved beyond traditional in-person bidding rooms.
For collectors and investors, the result offers a fresh benchmark for valuing Jordan items specifically and basketball memorabilia more generally. The previous record for a Jordan jersey, set by the Game 1 garment from the same series, had already established that Finals gear from 1998 occupies a tier of its own. The Game 3 sale pushes that tier higher.
Whether the record will stand for long is an open question. As long as Jordan remains a central figure in basketball history and the supply of authenticated game-worn items from his peak years stays limited, demand is likely to keep prices elevated. The $24.1 million paid for the Ruth jersey, however, suggests that basketball memorabilia still has room to grow before it reaches the heights of baseball's most storied artifacts.
For now, the Game 3 jersey stands as the most expensive piece of Jordan memorabilia ever sold and a vivid reminder of how much the market values the final chapter of the sport's most celebrated career.
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