One Jersey From the 1998 Finals Now Sets the Price for Basketball History

Michael Jordan's jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals, the championship run fans know as "The Last Dance," has gone to a bidder for $12.26 million. No basketball jersey worn in an actual NBA game has ever brought more when offered for sale. That figure is for a single shirt, the kind a player pulls on before tip-off and takes off at the final buzzer. Its value comes entirely from the man who wore it and the series he wore it in. Down here, people argue about what serious collecting looks like. Palm Beach tends to say paintings, Naples says the car in the garage, and Miami says whatever got the most attention last weekend. A result like this one ends that argument politely: sports memorabilia, chosen carefully, belongs in the same conversation. Whatever room this jersey ends up in, it now holds the record for its category.

With reporting from Robb Report.