Michael Jordan’s ‘Last Dance’ jersey sells for $12.26m, setting auction record for his memorabilia

Michael Jordan’s white Chicago Bulls jersey from Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals sold through online auction house Joopiter on Tuesday, September 29, for $12.26 million, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The price sets an auction record for game-worn Jordan memorabilia and surpasses the $10.1 million paid for another jersey from the same championship series.

BBC Sport rounded the price to $12.3 million, or about £9.3 million. The more precise $12.26 million figure comes from the Chicago Sun-Times. The record concerns items worn by Jordan: a different jersey still holds the reported auction record across all game-worn sports memorabilia.

Which Michael Jordan jersey sold?

The white No. 23 Bulls jersey was worn against the Utah Jazz on June 7, 1998, at Chicago’s United Center. It was Game 3 of the Finals, with the series tied 1-1 after two games in Utah. Chicago won 96-54 and took a 2-1 series lead.

According to Joopiter’s listing, Jordan played 43 minutes in that game and recorded 24 points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. The auction house says the jersey carries the 1998 NBA Finals Championship patch. Its account identifies the item with a specific game, rather than describing it only as a jersey from Jordan’s final Bulls season.

Joopiter describes the item as the only white jersey from the 1998 Finals to have surfaced. The Chicago Sun-Times gives a narrower description: the only publicly known white jersey from a Bulls victory in that series to have been offered for sale, according to the auction house’s website. Those are Joopiter’s rarity claims, rather than an independently established count of surviving jerseys.

How the $12.26 million price compares

Joopiter had estimated a sale price between $10 million and $15 million, according to BBC Sport and the Chicago Sun-Times. The reported result fell within that range. The Sun-Times says the auction received one bid before it closed on Tuesday and that the buyer was not identified.

The previous auction high for a piece of Jordan memorabilia was $10.1 million. That was paid at Sotheby’s in 2022 for his red jersey from Game 1 of the 1998 Finals, the Sun-Times and BBC Sport reported. Both record prices therefore concern jerseys from the same six-game series, but from different games.

Other Jordan items have sold for millions without approaching the Game 3 jersey’s price. The Sun-Times reported that a jersey and shorts from the 1992-93 season sold for $2.6 million at Heritage Auctions in May 2025. The uniform had been photo-matched to 17 games, including games in the season when the Bulls completed their first run of three consecutive titles.

The distinction between a Jordan record and an overall sports record matters here. BBC Sport reported that Babe Ruth’s jersey from the 1932 World Series game associated with his ‘called shot’ sold for $24.1 million in 2024. On those reported prices, Jordan’s Game 3 jersey is a record for his game-worn memorabilia, while Ruth’s remains the higher-priced game-worn sports item.

What is known about the buyer

The sale took place through Joopiter, the auction house founded by Pharrell Williams, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Its report did not identify the buyer. The inspected coverage also did not establish what the buyer intends to do with the jersey after the auction.

The reported result establishes a new price benchmark for Jordan’s game-worn memorabilia. It does not establish where the jersey will be displayed or whether the buyer will make it available to the public. For now, the documented story is the auction result and the jersey’s connection to the Bulls’ last championship season with Jordan.