A jersey worn by NBA legend Michael Jordan during his final 1997-98 season with the Chicago Bulls will go up for auction in September for three to five million dollars, Sotheby’s announced Wednesday.
The New York house, owned since 2019 by Franco-Israeli telecom magnate Patrick Drahi, has already sold sneakers that belonged to global superstar Michael Jordan, who is now 59, reaching nearly 1.5 million in 2021. dollars.
The sale will take place in New York from September 6 to 14 and the famous red jersey flanked by the number 23 of the Chicago Bulls worn by Jordan will be presented to the public in Monterey, California, from August 17 to 20, then in New York during the auction September, according to a press release from Sotheby’s.
“The 1997-98 season is perhaps one of Jordan’s fan favorites because Michael was at the top of his game knowing it was his last chance with the Chicago Bulls for the NBA championship,” commented the boss of modern objects and collectibles at Sotheby’s, Brahm Wachter.
What basketball pundits and the writers of a ten-season ESPN/Netflix documentary in 2020 called ‘The Last Dance’ season in 1997-98 marks Michael Jordan’s second retirement from the sport. : He played for the Bulls from 1984-85 to 1997-98 – with a one-season break in 1993-94 – before joining the Wizards of the federal capital Washington from 2001 to 2003.
Valued at between $3 million and $5 million, the Chicago Bulls fullback’s jersey has already fetched the highest auction price for a Jordan jersey and any player’s collectible, according to Sotheby’s.
In October 2021 in Las Vegas, the New York house sold a pair of sneakers, the Nike Air Ships, for $ 1,472,000, worn by Jordan at the start of his career in 1984-1985, setting an auction record for shoes worn in matches.
An astronomical price, smashing the record of Nike Air Jordans sold for 615,000 dollars in August 2020 during an auction organized by the competing company Christie’s.
Six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls, inspiration for Nike’s Air Jordan line of sneakers, owner of the Charlotte Hornets, the New York native is considered one of the greatest sportsmen of all time and today as one of the most prominent personalities in the sports industry.