The jersey of Kobe Bryant which he wore during the preseason and his debut in the regular season playing for the Los Angeles Lakers was sold on Thursday for seven million dollars at an auction at Sotheby’s in New York, announced the auction house.
The jersey was matched with photographs from seven games of his rookie season 1996/97, including his preseason debut on October 16th and regular season debut on November 3rd, 1996, as well as his NBA media day.
With the amount of seven million dollars, this jersey is the fourth most expensive game-worn sports jersey, behind Babe Ruth’s “called shot” jersey (24 million dollars), Michael Jordan’s jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals (10.1 million dollars), and Diego Maradona’s jersey from the 1986 World Cup which was sold for 9.3 million dollars.
“First games are truly unique moments in an athlete’s career,” said Sotheby’s head of modern collectibles Brahm Wachter.
“They mark the beginning of an extraordinary journey, and for legendary athletes like Kobe Bryant, these milestones carry even greater significance because they represent a unique moment in time that can never be repeated.”
This sale surpassed the amount of 5.85 million dollars that was paid for his signed, game-worn jersey from the games when he was named MVP in the 2007/08 season.
The five-time NBA champion Bryant died at the age of 41 in a helicopter crash in January 2020 in which his daughter Gianna and seven other people also died.
