Status: 09/16/2022 11:35 a.m
A collector paid $1.5 million for a pair of Michael Jordan shoes. Now a jersey of the basketball legend has been auctioned – for the highest sum that has ever been achieved at such an auction.
A jersey worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan has sold for $10.1 million (about ten million euros) in New York. According to the auction house Sotheby’s, it is the most expensive item of clothing ever sold by an athlete.
Jordan wore the red jersey with the number 23 in 1998 in the final series in the American basketball league NBA. With his team, the Chicago Bulls, he won his sixth and final championship. In the first game he wore the now auctioned shirt – and won 4:2 against Utah Jazz.
Twice as much as expected
Last year, a worn pair of Jordan basketball shoes sold for almost $1.5 million. The former basketball player is 59 years old today.
According to Sotheby’s, there were around 20 bids for the shirt. The auction house did not say who placed the highest bid of $10.1 million. In recent years, the jersey has become better known thanks to the Netflix documentary “The Last Dance” about Jordan and his last games with the Chicago Bulls.
Worth more than the football star Maradona’s jersey
The jersey was originally valued at around five million dollars. Kobe Bryant’s basketball jersey, which he wore in his freshman year as a player with the Los Angeles Lakers, was considered the most expensive basketball jersey to date: it was auctioned for $3.7 million. Bryant died in a helicopter crash in early 2020.
The jersey of the Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona was considered to be the most expensive athlete’s collector’s item. It had changed hands a few months ago – for £7.1 million, the equivalent of $8.6 million.