The New York Sotheby’s auction house sold for seven million dollars the shirt that Kobe Bryant used during his preseason debut and the regular Los Angeles Lakers season. The shirt was used in seven games of its premiere course in the NBA, that of 1996-97, including its debut in the preseason on October 16 and in the regular season on November 3, 1996. “This shirt symbolizes the beginning of a race that would transcend the sport,” said Sotheby’s by promoting the auction. With a price of seven million dollars, this shirt is the fourth one is the fourth fourth. of which the baseball player Ruth took in a mythical 1932 game (sold for 24 million dollars in 2024), that of Michael Jordan in the NBA finals of 1998 (10.1 million, in 2022) and that of Diego Armando Maradona in the 1986 World Cup (9.3 million, in 2022), known as the “shirt of the hand of God”. Sotheby’s Sold Kobe Bryant’s First Game-Worn Nba Jersey for $ 7 Million At Auction. It is the 2nd Highest Price Ever for An NBA Game-Worn Jersey After The $ 10.1 Million Paid For Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals One. pic.twitter.com/b6qiwovsep— Kurt Badenhausen (@kbadenhause) April 24, 2025 “debut matches are unique moments in an athlete’s career,” said Brahm Wachter, head of Modern Collection of Sotheby’s, in a statement to ESPN. “They mark the birth of an extraordinary trip, and for iconic athletes like Kobe Bryant, these milestones are even more importance, since they represent a unique moment in the time that can never be replicated.” The sale was a record for a Bryant collection object, exceeding 5.85 million dollars paid for its signed and used shirt being the MVP of the 2007-08 season. Bryant, five times NBA champion, died at age 41 in a helicopter accident that occurred in January 2020, in which his daughter Gianna and seven other people also died. Pau Gasol, the best basketball player in the history of Spain, won two NBA champion trophies in the Lakers with Bryant, who was a great friend before and after his time through the mythical Californian team. The 1996-97 season of the NBA marked the debut of Kobe Bryant, an 18-year basketball. Bryant was selected in the 13th position of the 1996 draft by the Charlotte Hornets and quickly transferred to the Lakers in exchange for Vlade Divac, a signing that would mark the story entered the Lakers team. He entered the League as a sensation from the Lower Merion High School Institute, with a level of trust and a competitive spirit that contrasted with their youth. In his first season, his statistics –7.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game – were modest and the rookie prize of the year was won by the Philadelphia 76ers Allen Iiverson player. However, since that first year he gave signs of what would be his insatiable hunger of greatness. In that first season he won the NBA Mate Contest. To wait for Michael JordansoStheby’s, he announced that, in parallel to the Kobe Bryant’s premiere shirt with the Lakers, he would also take auction that Michael Jordan dressed in his first game with the Chicago Bulls, in this case of preseason. Jordan’s shirt is signed by the basketball genius. “For collectors looking for authentic unique treasures, this is a unique opportunity in the life of possessing iconic pieces in the history of basketball,” Watcher said when announcing the auction. “The debut matches are something that all athletes experience only once in their career, and it is a time when the enthusiasm of their preprofessional career finally materializes in the big leagues,” he added. Michael Jordan’s shirts of the 80s are unique, very difficult to find in the market and very few have gone on sale. In the 12 seasons prior to the 1997-1998 season of the last dance, the Meigray collecting firm has examined 130 shirts that are supposed to be used by Jordan, but, at the time of cataloging them, only four have been authenticated by their experts. The one that is auction is one of them, the only one used in a match and photographed that has come out of the rookie season of the Bulls player. Meigray has attributed this shirt to Jordan’s debut in the preseason, on October 5, 1984, in Peoria, Illinois, where he first played with the Chicago Bulls at the Peoria Civic Center, before about 2000 people. The shirt has also been compared to photographs of Jordan’s 2 and 3 games in the 1984 NBA preseason. As Bryant, Jordan was not the first team of the Draft, but it was the third, behind Akeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie. Then, however, he made it clear that he was the best of his generation (and perhaps in history) with an average of 28.2 points in the first season, in which he won the rookie award of the year. Jordan’s debut took place at a time when the bulls crossed economic difficulties. In the 1984 preseason, Jordan wore a reused shirt that had taken other players, far from the image of the world icon where he would become. Under the name “Jordan” and the number “23” of the shirt that goes to auction you can see dark spots, which seem to be remains of the names and numbers of previous players who used it. Michael changed to a different shirt at the beginning of the regular season 1984-1985.The collectible of a rookie for the one that has been paid in the story is not a shirt, but a chromium of 1952 Yankees baseball Mickey Mantle, auctioned at 2022 for 12.6 million dollars. (Tagstotranslate) Basketball
Kobe Bryant’s debut shirt in the Lakers, sold for seven million dollars | Basketball | Sports
