A game-worn Michael Jordan jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals sold for $14 million in a private transaction, establishing it as the most expensive piece of basketball memorabilia ever sold. Hunt Auctions, a Pennsylvania-based firm, announced the sale on Monday, identifying Miami real estate investor Ron Firman as the new owner of the red Chicago Bulls jersey. The item is an autographed jersey worn by Jordan during Game 2 of the 1998 Finals against the Utah Jazz on June 5, 1998, a match in which the Bulls evened the series at 1-1. Chicago went on to win its sixth championship in eight seasons during that run.
The sale places this specific jersey as the second-most expensive game-worn jersey in any sport. Only one item holds a higher price: Babe Ruth's "called shot" jersey from the 1932 World Series, which sold for $24.12 million in 2024. David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions, stated that Jordan's importance in the sports memorabilia marketplace has escalated to an elite asset class typically reserved for iconic works of art.
This transaction marks the third Jordan jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals to sell for at least $10 million. The Game 1 jersey from that series sold for approximately $10.1 million in 2022, and the Game 3 jersey brought in roughly $12.3 million in the month prior to this announcement. Collectors have now spent more than $36 million on three jerseys from that single championship series.
Hunt Auctions noted that a private collector bought the Game 2 jersey from the Bulls in 2003, with only one subsequent transfer of ownership recorded since then. Firman described Jordan as an incredibly talented player who is admired around the world and expressed excitement about the purchase.
The high value of this jersey follows a similar trend in other Jordan memorabilia from that era. In 2023, a pair of Air Jordans worn by Michael Jordan during Game 2 of those same Finals sold for $2.2 million through Sotheby's, which set a record at the time for the most expensive sneakers ever sold.