For fans of NBAbasketball, an ideal opportunity has arrived to include in their personal collection the debut jerseys worn by Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers star, and Michael Jordan, the Chicago Bulls legend. Both garments will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in its New York branch.
The outfits of these two great sports figures were worn in their first games in their professional careers with their respective teams. Michael Jordan‘s dates from 1984 while Kobe Bryant‘s is from 1996. This has been certified by the auction house itself, which has details that confirm the originality of the garments.
What is the estimated price of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant’s jerseys?
As two of the greatest athletes in the history of mankind, auction house Sotheby’s has estimated that the sale of both jerseys will fetch around $20 million.
Michael Jordan‘s jersey was worn on October 5, 1984, the preseason date, and he later changed jerseys at the start of the regular season. It was a recycled uniform by the Bulls, as under the name “Jordan” and the number “23” there are dark stains, which appear to be remnants of previous players’ names and numbers.
This feature has made it easy for the auction house to authenticate it and it is the only jersey worn by Michael Jordan during his rookie season to come up for auction, and is even considered a rarity once at that time players used to repeat uniform for several games, which makes the number of copies is very small.
Exhibition of the jerseys at Sotheby’s auction house
Meanwhile, the jersey that Kobe Bryant wore when he made his debut with the Los Angeles Lakers in preseason and regular season in his rookie year. The No. 8 jersey is photographically associated with his debut in the Oct. 16, 1996, preseason game, the Nov. 3, 1996, regular season game and NBA Media Day. This garment had more accessible certification to validate.
The New York branch of the auction house Sotheby’s, located on York Avenue in East Manhattan, will put the jerseys on display from March 21, when they will begin to receive purchase offers until the best bid is decided on an undetermined day.
