Ten million dollars, minimum
You will need $10 million in hand. At the very least. And you need it before September 15.
That is the opening bid set by auction house Joopiter for a white Chicago Bulls jersey. The one Michael Jordan wore on June 7, 1998, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. The Athletic first reported the sale.
Chicago showed no mercy that night at the United Center. 96-54. A rout. Jordan led all scorers with 24 points in 32 minutes on the floor, and the Bulls moved ahead 2-1 in the series.
Try it for $0.99.
Why the floor price starts at eight figures
Joopiter did not pull that number out of thin air. The Game 1 jersey from the same series still holds the record for the most expensive game-worn item ever sold, $10.1 million back in 2022, and the memorabilia market has climbed a long way since.
Barry Meisel, founder of memorabilia company MeiGray, laid out the logic to The Athletic. “A Jordan is a very, very, very rare relic, certainly compared with today’s GOATs, the LeBrons, the Stephen Currys, because it was a different era. There were no game-worn jersey programmes. Teams were not putting a fresh jersey on a player every game or every other game.”
Scarcity does the rest.
Six rings, and one shirt nobody wants
That 1998 title was not just another banner. It was the sixth in eight years, and the last. The season got its nickname, “The Last Dance,” because it was the final run for Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the rest in Chicago colours.
Jordan walked away afterwards. He stayed away three years, then came back in 2001 for two seasons with the Washington Wizards. Those jerseys sit in a very different price bracket.
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