An iconic Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls jersey scored over $4.5 million at auction.
Jordan’s jersey from the 1996-97 season — the year MJ and the Bulls won their fifth NBA championship — netted $4.68 million at Sotheby’s on Monday. The jersey has been photo-matched to 17 games from that season.
“This jersey was photo-matched to being worn by Michael Jordan over a 5-month span in Jordan’s fifth championship season, from December of 1996 to April of 1997, over a remarkable 5 months in 15 different cities. That this jersey was worn by Michael Jordan for such a long period of time – at the height of his celebrity as well as his basketball powers – is just one of the elements that make this jersey one of the most stunning pieces that has ever surfaced from perhaps the greatest to ever play the game,” Sotheby’s wrote in the lot description.
The auction house added, “For a jersey from this time to survive the demand for game-worn memorabilia that surged shortly after its use (Upper Deck, for example, produced the first NBA game-used memorabilia trading card set in 1997-1998 and regularly utilized jerseys from the Bulls era in subsequent releases) and be brought to market is a truly momentous event.”
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What makes this uniform particularly special is that it predates the “Last Dance” era of the famed 1997-98 season, Jordan’s final year with the Bulls.
“The population of pre-‘Last Dance’ jerseys is remarkably slim – with a single-game jersey from these seasons emerging here-and-there. The reality is, that Michael during these periods of time would wear a single jersey for huge swaths of time, making them exceptionally rare and coveted,” wrote Sotheby’s. “This is perhaps the finest Away-Red Michael Jordan jersey that has ever surfaced at market.”
Most notably, Jordan wore this specific jersey during a memorable 1997 game that helped establish then-Philadelphia 76ers rookie Allen Iverson’s reputation. In a one-on-one matchup, Iverson executed a crossover move that left Jordan stumbling — a moment forever known as “The Crossover.”
Jordan’s most expensive jersey is the one he wore during Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals when the Bulls faced the Utah Jazz. That sold for $10.1 million.