A jersey worn by LeBron James during the first half of Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals sold for $3.7 million at auction on Friday, becoming the third most expensive jersey ever sold at Sotheby’s.
It is the most worn jersey in sports at Sotheby’s, but behind Michael Jordan’s ‘Last Dance’ NBA Finals jersey ($10.91 million) and the ‘Hand of God’ T-shirt by Diego Armando . Maradona ($9.28 million).
The night James wore that jersey, he scored 37 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had four assists as the Miami Heat shut out the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7. Line. The jersey is from the season James won his fourth and most recent NBA MVP award, placing him tied for third with Wilt Chamberlain behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six) and Bill Russell and Michael Jordan (both with five). Was.
James is projected to pass Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s leading points scorer in less than two weeks.
The previous record for a James apparel worn in a game was the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, which sold for $630,000 in 2020. A rookie patch, which set a card record when it was sold through the PWCC in April 2021. (The sports card record has been broken several times since then, but the James RPA remains the most expensive non-fractional ownership basketball card ever).
It won’t take long for another potential record to emerge from Sotheby’s. On February 1, just after the third anniversary of his death, a jersey worn by Kobe Bryant in 25 games (including six playoff games) during his lone NBA MVP season in 2007–08 opened for auction. It is expected to fetch between $5 million and $7 million.
During Bryant’s 2007–08 season, he became the youngest player to score 20,000 points, a record that was broken by James in 2013.
