Michael Jordan's Signed Bulls Jersey Sells for 'Highest Price Ever' for Basketball Memorabilia

A signed Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls jersey was sold at an auction for a reported record-setting price.

Per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, Pennsylvania-based Hunt Auctions announced that a game-worn, autographed Jordan road jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals was privately sold for $14 million, marking the "highest price ever paid for a piece of basketball memorabilia."

Miami real estate investor Ron Firman was identified as the buyer, and he owns multiple rare collector's items:

Jordan wore the jersey in Game 2 against the Utah Jazz and dropped 37 points to help the Bulls tie the series 1-1. Chicago eventually won the NBA Finals in six games, giving Jordan his sixth championship ring. The 1997-98 season later became the subject of the iconic 10-episode Last Dance documentary series, which was released in 2020.

"While Michael Jordan's importance within the sports memorabilia marketplace has long been established it has now escalated to an elite asset class more typically reserved for iconic works of art," David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions, said. "We are very pleased to have been able to facilitate this historic sale which serves as another benchmark for our industry."

Jordan's 1998 NBA Finals memorabilia is among the most lucrative sources in the collector space. Reynolds noted that his Game 1 jersey was sold at auction for about $10.1 million in 2022, and his jersey from Game 3 was auctioned last month for nearly $12.3 million. In 2023, a pair of Air Jordan sneakers worn in Game 2 was sold by Sotheby's for $2.2 million, which at the time was deemed "a new world record for the most valuable sneakers ever sold."

Reynolds added, "The $14 million price would be the second-biggest known cost for a game-worn jersey, behind the $24.12 million paid in 2024 for the jersey worn by Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees when he hit the 'called shot' home run against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series."

"Michael Jordan was an incredibly talented player who is admired around the world," Firman said in a release. "I'm very excited about the purchase."