Jordan’s commemorative jersey from 1998 was auctioned for a quarter of a billion kroner

The jersey of legendary basketball player Michael Jordan since he played in his last NBA Finals series in the colors of the Chicago Bulls is the holy grail for fans of this sport. Getting a real piece of him out of at least one of the six games the Bulls played with the Utah Jazz late in the season was an almost superhuman challenge. But some do exist – and when they come up for auction, they tend to break records. That’s what happened today.

Jordan’s memorable 1998 jersey, specifically the one he wore in the first game of the last series, was auctioned for 10.1 million dollars at an auction organized by Sotheby’s hall on Thursday. No other piece of sports memorabilia has sold for such money. It even surpassed the legendary jersey of the famous soccer player Diego Maradona, which was sold for 9.3 million dollars (216 million crowns) in May.

In a significant way, he also defied the expectations of the organizers themselves, who thought it would be auctioned for three to five million dollars – in the end, it was more than double that amount. An anonymous buyer has come into possession of a completely unique item, which can increase in value over time. The world of sports will never forget the famous Michael Jordan, especially his last appearance in basketball with the Chicago Bulls team, also called The Last Dance

But the owner doesn’t just get a jersey. Another treasure is the publication of a sports magazine Sports Illustrated from 1998 in a protective case, its cover showing Michael Jordan shooting a basket. In the first game of the Finals series, Jordan played forty-five minutes (the most of all six Finals games) and scored thirty-three points. In the end, the Chicago Bulls won the series 4-2 in the games and it was the sixth title win for the famous basketball player.

At auctions, Michael Jordan – like other legendary athletes – is usually very popular. Since he is one of the best basketball players of all time, people do not hesitate to spend millions of dollars on various things related to him. For example, a signed trading card with the name was auctioned for $2.7 million last year, while 2020 also saw the successful auction of Nike’s Air Jordan 1 sneakers.