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Joopiter said the white No. 23 Chicago Bulls jersey worn by Jordan during a dominant victory in the 1998 NBA Finals sold for the eight-figure sum after opening for bids in mid-September. The auction house founded by Pharrell Williams reported that the final price incorporated a buyer’s premium on a $10 million hammer. According to multiple reports the sale establishes new benchmarks for both NBA jerseys and game-worn Jordan memorabilia.
Jordan delivered 24 points, three rebounds and two assists in the June 7, 1998, game that saw the Bulls defeat the Utah Jazz 96-54 at the United Center, ESPN data shows. The performance helped secure a 2-1 series advantage en route to the franchise’s sixth championship. The 1998 playoffs and Finals gained renewed fame through the 2020 documentary “The Last Dance.”
The price exceeds the $10.1 million realised by Jordan’s Game 1 road jersey from the same series at Sotheby’s in September 2022, CBS Sports reported. That earlier sale had overtaken the $9.3 million paid for Diego Maradona’s 1986 World Cup jersey as the most valuable piece of sports memorabilia. EssentiallySports calculated the latest transaction reflects a roughly 21 percent increase over the prior Jordan record.
Joopiter’s listing noted the jersey was authenticated by MeiGray in December 2015 and photo-matched to specific game images from Getty. The item previously belonged to collector Rob Gough, who acquired it in 2023 from Bill Thoma, according to documentation provided by the auction platform. It features mesh fabric, an NBA Finals logo patch and an official NBA Authentics tag.
Broader interest in premium sports collectibles has driven prices higher in recent years, with a Mickey Mantle card selling for $12.6 million at Heritage Auctions in 2022, Artnet News figures show. A Jordan jersey and shorts set from the 1992-93 season commanded $2.6 million at a May 2025 Heritage sale, the Chicago Sun-Times said. Such transactions highlight the intersection of sports history and investment appeal.
The 1998 season represented the culmination of Jordan’s Bulls tenure and his sixth NBA Finals MVP performance, Sotheby’s noted in its coverage of the earlier sale. Scarcity of verified game-worn items from that Finals run has intensified collector demand. Joopiter described the latest jersey as the only publicly known white victory jersey from the series available at auction.
