Basketball icon Michael Jordan’s jersey, worn during his “Last Dance” season with the Chicago Bulls, has sold for a record £10.6m, making it the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia of its kind.
The Chicago Bulls’ legendary No. 23 shirt was worn in Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals. That series ended in Chicago’s win over the Utah Jazz and Jordan’s sixth and final championship, and a record sixth Finals MVP award.
The shirt takes its nickname from the 2020 ESPN/Netflix documentary that followed the Bulls’ final title run. Its sale marks the latest in a series of record-breaking auctions for the jersey, which has previously topped a Diego Maradona shirt from the 1986 World Cup as the highest-priced game-worn sports memorabilia.
The jersey remains one of the very few worn by Jordan during a Finals game to have reached the market.
Auction specialists say demand for items tied to Jordan has stayed strong, more than two decades after he left the game. Sotheby’s has said the earlier sale of the jersey showed that his legacy remains as relevant as ever.
As at the time of filing this report, the identity of the buyer has remained undisclosed.
