One of Michael Jordan’s jerseys has broken the record for a piece of Jordan memorabilia sold at auction.
The jersey was worn by Jordan during his ‘Last Dance’ season in 1998 and sold for £9.3m ($12.3m ).
The basketball and sporting great wore the jersey during game three of the 1998 NBA Finals in what was his last season with the Chicago Bulls.
The Bulls won that series 4-2 as Jordan secured his sixth and final NBA Championship.
Entrepreneur Ryan Gough put the jersey up for sale on digital auction house Joopiter, which was founded and is owned by musician, producer, and fashion designer Pharrell Williams.
Joopiter gave the jersey an estimated price of £7.5-£11.3m ($10-15m) ahead of the sale with the final price landing firmly in the middle of the predicted estimate.
The previous record for a piece of Jordan memorabilia was £7.6m ($10.1m) which was for his jersey from game one of the same 1998 Finals.
Additionally, Jordan's 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello was sold for £2m ($2.7m), four times the auction record for that model.
"Few objects in the history of sport embody greatness as completely as Michael Jordan's game three jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals," Joopiter said in the auction posting.
"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."
Yet despite the record price for Jordan’s game three jersey, it is still a long way off the record for a piece of game-worn sports memorabilia.
That record is held by the jersey worn by baseball legend Babe Ruth when he "called the shot" during the 1932 World Series. His jersey sold for £18.2m ($24.1m) in 2024.
At the time Chris Ivy, the director of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions who oversaw the sale, called it "the most significant piece of American sports memorabilia ever offered at auction" adding "if this was a piece of art, this would be like buying the Mona Lisa."
