Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant’s First NBA Jerseys Expected To Sell For More Than $10 Million (US) Apiece

This spring, Sotheby’s – one of the world’s largest auction houses and brokers of fine arts, jewellery and collectibles – will offer game-worn jerseys of NBA superstars Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, which are expected to fetch more than $10 million apiece.

The jerseys, which will be on public exhibition at Sotheby’s New York gallery starting on March 21, were first worn during Jordan’s preseason debut with the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 5, 1984, and Bryant’s preseason debut with the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 16, 1996.

Jordan’s red jersey, which features a script “Chicago” wordmark across the front, was previously worn by other players and was repurposed, as evidenced by the dark remnants of another name and number beneath “Jordan” and the No. 23.

This played a key role in the photomatching of the autographed jersey, which – according to Sotheby’s – is the only photomatched game-worn jersey from Jordan’s rookie season to ever surface at auction. It was also worn during his second and third preseason games.

Similarly, Bryant’s gold No. 8 jersey was not only worn in his preseason debut but also photo-matched to seven games during his rookie season, including his first regular-season game on Nov. 3, 1996.

As mentioned, both jerseys are expected to sell at auction for more than US$10 million ($14.3 million CAD) and could surpass Mickey Mantle’s 1952 Topps card (US$12.6 million) as the highest-selling rookie memorabilia item.

Jordan’s game-worn 1998 NBA Finals jersey currently holds the record for the most valuable basketball jersey ever sold at US$10.1 million, while an autographed jersey from Bryant’s 2007-08 MVP season currently sits in second at US$5.8 million.

Other notable NBA rookie items sold at auction include LeBron James’ autographed 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection RPA Parallel card (US$5.2 million), Luka Doncic’s 2018-19 Panini National Treasures Logoman RPA card (US$4.6 million) and Victor Wembanyama’s game-worn jersey from his debut with the San Antonio Spurs (US$762,000).