Almost three decades after Michael Jordan completed his final championship season with the Chicago Bulls, one of the most significant pieces of memorabilia from “The Last Dance” is back on the market.
The white Bulls jersey worn by Jordan during Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz is currently being auctioned by JOOPITER, the digital auction platform founded by Pharrell Williams.
According to JOOPITER’s official auction listing, the jersey has an estimated value of between $10 million and $15 million. A $10 million bid has already been placed and the reserve has been met, meaning a sale at that price would put it close to the existing record for a basketball jersey.
The man currently selling it, however, believes collectors may be dramatically undervaluing what he considers an irreplaceable piece of sporting history.
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Owner believes it could reach $100 million
Sports investor and collector Rob Gough acquired the jersey after what he has described as an extensive search for one of Jordan’s most important game-worn uniforms.
Gough’s expectations go far beyond the official $10 million to $15 million estimate. Speaking before the auction, he suggested the jersey could eventually reach a figure that would completely transform the sports memorabilia market.
“I think this will be the first jersey to hit $100 million,” Gough said, as reported by the New York Post.
Such a price would be extraordinary. Jordan already holds the public auction record for a basketball jersey after the red uniform he wore in Game 1 of the same 1998 NBA Finals sold through Sotheby’s for $10.091 million in September 2022.
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Gough has also argued that the official estimate is too conservative. Speaking to The Sporting News, he described a sale within that range as a bargain for the eventual buyer and said he expects the final figure to exceed expectations.
There is, however, a considerable gap between Gough’s personal $100 million prediction and the auction house’s $10 million to $15 million valuation.
The jersey comes from one of Jordan’s final great performances
Jordan wore the white No. 23 jersey on June 7, 1998, when the Bulls hosted the Utah Jazz at the United Center with the NBA Finals tied at 1-1.
Chicago did not simply win Game 3. The Bulls destroyed Utah 96-54 in one of the most dominant performances ever seen in the Finals, moving 2-1 ahead in a series they would eventually win in six games.
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Jordan played just over 32 minutes and finished with 24 points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. The figures are confirmed by the Game 3 box score at Basketball-Reference. He made seven of his 14 field-goal attempts and converted 10 of 11 free throws before sitting out the entire fourth quarter with the result already beyond doubt.
Utah’s 54 points remain one of the defining numbers from the night, while Chicago’s 42-point winning margin underlined just how one-sided the game had become.
The victory gave the Bulls control of the series before Jordan eventually produced one of basketball’s most famous moments in Game 6, hitting the championship-winning shot over Bryon Russell to secure an 87-86 victory and his sixth NBA title.
Why this Jordan jersey is so rare
The value is not simply connected to Jordan’s name. According to JOOPITER, it is the only publicly known white game-winning Jordan jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals to have surfaced.
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Only four game-winning jerseys exist from that series, one from each Bulls victory, and the Game 3 shirt is accompanied by a MeiGray photomatching certificate and a letter establishing its provenance.
That scarcity is particularly important because players during Jordan’s era generally did not cycle through game-worn uniforms at the same rate as modern NBA stars. As a result, authenticated jerseys linked to major Jordan performances can be extraordinarily difficult for collectors to obtain.
The 1997-98 campaign adds another layer of significance. It was Jordan’s final season with Chicago, the Bulls’ sixth championship in eight years and the end of the dynasty later immortalised by ESPN’s “The Last Dance” documentary.
Jordan retired for the second time in January 1999 before eventually returning to the NBA with the Washington Wizards in 2001.
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One record could fall, another is much further away
The current $10 million bid has not yet surpassed the $10.091 million paid for Jordan’s Game 1 jersey in 2022, but anything above that figure would establish a new public auction record for a basketball jersey.
Reaching Gough’s suggested $100 million valuation would be an entirely different achievement.
The overall record for game-worn sports memorabilia is far higher than Jordan’s existing basketball mark. Babe Ruth’s jersey from the legendary “called shot” game in the 1932 World Series sold for $24.12 million in 2024, according to The Sporting News.
Jordan’s jersey therefore does not need to come anywhere close to $100 million to make history. If bidding pushes beyond $10.091 million, he will have broken his own basketball record. If it climbs beyond $24.12 million, the jersey would enter an entirely different category.
For now, the auction has already reached eight figures. The remaining question is whether collectors agree with Gough that one of the final championship jerseys worn by Michael Jordan belongs in the same financial territory as the world’s most valuable works of art.
