6 minutes read
Michael Jordan’s Game 2 jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals was sold in a private sale for $14 million: a new record for one of his collectibles.
On October 12, 2026, auction house Hunt Auctions announced the private sale of the jersey worn by Michael Jordan in Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals for $14 million. It is the new record for the most expensive collectible ever owned by Jordan: it matters because it shows how that Chicago Bulls season continues, nearly thirty years later, to drive the highest figures in the market for major sports memorabilia.
Sale Figures
The jersey, red and worn on the road, dates to Game 2 of the 1998 Finals against the Utah Jazz, played on June 5 of that year: that evening Jordan scored 37 points in the victory that tied the series at 1-1, in the season that would close with the Bulls’ sixth NBA title, the last of that era. The piece is autographed and has been photo-matched by MeiGray Authentication and SIA Authentication, with the signature authenticated by Upper Deck. The buyer is Ron Firman, a Miami real-estate entrepreneur, who acquired the piece through Hunt Auctions in a direct negotiation and not in a public auction with competitive bidding: an increasingly common formula for the highest-tier collectibles, where the seller seeks a single buyer willing to pay an agreed sum, instead of a public award with competing bids.
The $14 million surpasses the previous record for a Jordan collectible, the $12.26 million paid for the Game 3 jersey from the same Finals, sold in early October through the Joopiter platform: the figure nonetheless remains second, among all game-worn sports jerseys ever sold, only to the $24.12 million paid in 2024 for Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot” jersey, worn in the 1932 World Series. David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions, stated that Jordan’s importance in the sports-memorabilia market “has now risen to an asset-class level, more typical of iconic works of art than of sports memorabilia.” It is the third time, in just a few years, that a Jordan jersey from the 1998 Finals has exceeded the $10 million threshold: before the Game 3 jersey, in 2022 it was the Game 1 jersey that set a record, sold for approximately $10.1 million.
A Traced Provenance
The value of a collectible like this depends as much on the object as on its documented history. The jersey was purchased directly from the Chicago Bulls by a collector in 2003, complete with an accompanying letter from the team’s then-director of community relations, and has changed hands only once since then until the sale to Firman: a short and verifiable chain of ownership, which for major sports collectibles weighs as much as the authentication itself. The dual passage—the photographic photo-matching to the specific game and the provenance documentation from the original purchase from the team—is the type of dossier that allows a sports collectible to approach, in verification rigor, that required for a work of art of comparable value. “Michael Jordan was an incredibly talented player, admired around the world,” Firman commented regarding the purchase.
What to Watch
The market for Michael Jordan collectibles shows no signs of slowing for now: within less than two weeks, two record sales have followed one another for two different jerseys from the same 1998 Finals, confirming how much that single season, made famous to the general public by the 2020 docuseries “The Last Dance,” remains the reference point when discussing high-end basketball collectibles. It remains to be seen whether other pieces from the same series, still in the hands of private collectors, will follow the same path of direct sale instead of public auction.
On Collecto, collectibles can also be purchased in shares—that is, in portions of a single asset shared among multiple co-owners, rather than in full: the works and other objects in the catalog are selected by the platform’s team, and the in-app purchase process, from selecting the asset to paying for the share, is explained step by step on the how Collecto works page.
A jersey worn for two hours on a court, nearly thirty years later, can be worth more than many works of art sold in the same week.
A sports collectible can be worth as much as a work of art
Cases like that of Jordan’s jersey show how much weight the documented history of who has owned it can carry for a sports collectible. On Collecto you can become a co-owner of sports collectibles and other collectible assets starting from €50, purchasing a share directly from the app.
Frequently Asked Questions About Michael Jordan’s Jersey
How much was Michael Jordan’s Game 2 jersey from the 1998 Finals sold for?
$14 million, in a private sale announced on October 12, 2026, by Hunt Auctions.
Who purchased the jersey?
Ron Firman, a Miami real-estate entrepreneur.
Is this a new record for Michael Jordan collectibles?
Yes: it surpasses the $12.26 million paid for the Game 3 jersey from the same 1998 Finals, sold in early October 2026.
What is the absolute record for a game-worn sports jersey?
The $24.12 million paid in 2024 for Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot” jersey, worn in the 1932 World Series: Jordan’s jersey remains in second place.
How was the jersey authenticated?
It was photo-matched by MeiGray Authentication and SIA Authentication, with Jordan’s signature authenticated by Upper Deck; it was purchased directly from the Chicago Bulls in 2003 and has changed hands only once since then.
