Jordan's Final Championship Jersey Sets NBA Memorabilia Record
Michael Jordan is still commanding eight-figure prices nearly three decades after his last championship. A game-worn jersey from Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals sold Tuesday for $12,260,000 at Joopiter, the digital auction house curated by Pharrell Williams — establishing a new record for the most expensive NBA jersey ever sold at auction [1].
The sale eclipses the previous benchmark set by Jordan himself: his jersey from Game 1 of that same 1998 Finals, which fetched $10.091 million at Sotheby's in September 2022 [3]. The Game 3 jersey was consigned by collector Rob Gough and received just one bid before the auction closed at 8:06 p.m. EST — within Joopiter's projected range of $10 million to $15 million [3].
What Makes This Jersey Unique
The piece carries a specific distinction that helps explain its premium valuation. According to Joopiter, the Game 3 jersey is the only publicly known white game-winning jersey worn by Jordan during the entire 1998 Finals [1]. That detail matters to serious collectors: it is not merely a Finals jersey, but one tied to a specific, documented victory.
Jordan wore the jersey for 43 minutes in a dominant 96-54 Chicago blowout over the Utah Jazz on June 7, 1998, finishing with 24 points, three rebounds, two assists, one block, and one steal — a performance that pushed the Bulls to a 2-1 series lead [1]. Chicago went on to win the Finals in six games, giving Jordan and the franchise their sixth NBA title [3].
The jersey's authenticity is well-documented. It was authenticated by MeiGray in December 2015 and photo-matched to two specific Getty Images photographs [3]. The garment features an NBA Finals logo patch on the upper right chest, mesh material, and an NBA Authentics size-50 tag [3].
A Traceable Chain of Custody
The provenance trail behind the jersey adds another layer of credibility — and intrigue. According to a March 2015 letter posted on Joopiter, a Chicago collector named Bill Thoma possessed the jersey and stated he had purchased it from Evan LaManna, a sales manager and partner at Upper Class Collectibles in New Jersey, approximately "8 or 9 years" before the letter was written [3]. LaManna reportedly had a professional relationship with Jordan and obtained the jersey from a "close associate" of the Bulls legend [3]. Rob Gough then acquired the jersey in 2023 before consigning it to Joopiter for Tuesday's sale [3].
The Cultural Weight of 'The Last Dance'
Joopiter framed the sale in explicitly historical terms. "Few objects in the history of sport embody greatness as completely as Michael Jordan's Game 3 jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals," the auction house said. "Worn during The Last Dance … it marks the culmination of an era that transformed basketball into a global cultural phenomenon. Today, it stands among the most important game-worn sports artifacts ever to come to market." [1]
That framing taps into the enduring cultural resonance of the 1997-98 Bulls season, which was immortalized in ESPN's multi-part documentary series "The Last Dance" and remains one of the most examined chapters in professional basketball history [1]. Jordan announced his second retirement from the NBA on January 13, 1999, making the artifacts from that final championship run the last of their kind [3].
Jordan's Broader Memorabilia Market
Tuesday's sale is the latest data point in what has become a sustained, high-value market for Jordan collectibles. His "Dream Team" jacket from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics sold for $1.5 million in 2023 [1]. His sneakers have set multiple auction records of their own, and Jordan ranks among the most searched athletes on eBay, with trading card sales that consistently place among the highest in the industry [1].
The breadth of that market — spanning jerseys, footwear, trading cards, and outerwear across multiple decades — suggests collector demand is not narrowly focused on any single era or item type, but reflects a broad appetite for Jordan-associated artifacts.
One Record Jordan Has Not Yet Broken
For all the momentum in Jordan's memorabilia market, one ceiling remains out of reach — at least for now. Babe Ruth's "called shot" jersey from the 1932 World Series with the New York Yankees holds the title of the most expensive piece of game-worn sports memorabilia ever sold, fetching $24.12 million in 2024 [1]. Jordan's $12.26 million sale places him firmly in the upper tier of that market, but roughly $12 million short of Ruth's benchmark.
What to Watch
With Jordan's Finals jerseys now having sold for $10.091 million (Game 1) and $12.26 million (Game 3), attention will naturally turn to whether other authenticated pieces from the 1998 run surface in the coming years — and whether the escalating prices hold as the broader sports memorabilia market continues to mature. The identity of Tuesday's single bidder has not been disclosed, leaving open questions about whether institutional collectors or private buyers are driving demand at this level.