A jersey worn by Michael Jordan during the 1998 NBA finals has been sold for $14m, an auction house announced on Monday, in what it said is the highest price ever paid for a piece of basketball memorabilia.

Hunt Auctions said Miami real estate investor Ron Firman had bought the jersey in a private sale. Jordan wore the red jersey in Game 2 of the 1998 finals; he and the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz that night to even the series at a game apiece. Jordan and the Bulls would go on to win the series in six games, the sixth and final title of his Hall of Fame career. That 1997-98 season was the subject of the Last Dance documentary series, which became a hit on Netflix in 2020.

“While Michael Jordan’s importance within the sports memorabilia marketplace has long been established it has now escalated to an elite asset class more typically reserved for iconic works of art,” said David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions. “We are very pleased to have been able to facilitate this historic sale which serves as another benchmark for our industry.”

The $14m price would be the second-biggest known cost for a game-worn jersey, behind the $24.12m paid in 2024 for one worn by Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees when he hit the “called shot” home run against the Chicago Cubs during the 1932 World Series.

This sale becomes at least the third time a Jordan jersey from that 1998 finals has fetched at least $10m. A jersey from Game 1 was sold at auction for about $10.1m in 2022 and a jersey from Game 3 was auctioned last month for about $12.3m.

“Michael Jordan was an incredibly talented player who is admired around the world.” Firman said in a statement. “I’m very excited about the purchase.”

The jersey was originally bought from the Bulls by a private collector in 2003, Hunt said, adding that it “has remained within a succinct chain of custody having only changed hands once from the original purchaser.”

Jordan’s final season with the Bulls has been the subject of massive interest among collectors. In 2023, a pair of Air Jordan sneakers that he wore in Game 2 against the Jazz was sold by Sotheby’s for $2.2m, touted at the time as “a new world record for the most valuable sneakers ever sold.”