Basketball jersey from Jordan’s famed ‘Last Dance’ season with the Chicago Bulls sets record for game-worn memorabilia.

Chicago, September 15 (RHC)-- Famed U.S. basketball player Michael Jordan’s Game 1 jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals has been sold at auction for $10.1 million – a record for any game-worn sports memorabilia, auction house Sotheby’s has announced.

The red, number-23 jersey from Jordan’s “Last Dance” season with the Chicago Bulls fetched 20 separate bids, Sotheby’s said in a statement on Thursday, which drove the price to double its $5 million estimate.

The sale also sets a new record for a basketball jersey sold at auction, and the jersey is the most valuable item of Jordan memorabilia ever to be sold.  “The historic jersey was worn during what is arguably the most celebrated season of Jordan’s legendary and storied career, when the superstar cemented his legacy as the greatest basketball player of all time,” Sotheby’s said.

According to the auction house, the jersey is one of just two of Jordan’s NBA Finals jerseys to ever appear at auction.  Interest in Jordan’s 1998 season was sparked yet again after the 2020 release of an ESPN/Netflix documentary titled, The Last Dance, which detailed the Chicago Bulls’ efforts to achieve an unprecedented sixth NBA championship in eight seasons.

The 1998 NBA Finals, which saw the Bulls take on the Utah Jazz, led by Karl Malone and John Stockton, was the most viewed NBA finals series ever.

“Yet again, today’s record-breaking result, with an astounding 20 bids, solidifies Michael Jordan as the undisputed GOAT [Greatest of All Time], proving his name and incomparable legacy is just as relevant as it was nearly 25 years ago,” Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of streetwear and modern collectables, said in a statement.