They say that sports legends should only be enjoyed, not judged or compared. And how to know who is greater between, for example, Michael Jordan and Diego Armando Maradona or even Kobe Bryant. Only the numbers can intervene to solve this dilemma.
At the time, both Jordan and Bryant in the NBA, as well as Diego Maradona in Italy or in the FIFA World Cup, tyrannized their sport and were considered the greatest of their time, and then entered the debate about whether they were the greatest athletes. This space is only for the true legends.
Quantitatively it is impossible to compare them, because it would be to make subjective judgments, especially between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and Diego Maradona. But there is one aspect that may well set a precedent, and that is the amount of money generated by the auction of a valuable item used by them. And that is exactly what happened.
Michael Jordan’s jersey surpasses Kobe Bryant and Diego Maradona in auction sales
The world of auctions is full of drama and excitement. You never know when the winning bid may appear. Millions start to flow in, especially when it comes to items worn by legends such as Jordan, Bryant and Maradona.
In a Sotheby’s auction held on September 15, Michael Jordan’s popularity and ability to generate sales triumphed over Kobe Bryant and Diego Maradona. The jersey worn by MJ in the first game of the 1998 NBA Finals between Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz was auctioned for a monstrous 10.1 million dollars.
A young fan wearing Jordan’s “Last Dance” jersey. (Jonathan Ferrey /Allsport)
Previously, the highest-grossing sports item worn by a star at auction was the jersey Maradona wore to score his controversial Hand of God goal against England in the Quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Its sale price was 9.3 million dollars.
Kobe Bryant, meanwhile, held the record for the highest-grossing basketball jersey at auction. The garment worn by the Los Angeles Lakers star in his first year as a professional in the NBA raised “only” 3.7 million dollars.
It is worth noting that Michael Jordan’s jersey sold for 10 million dollars is the same one used in the famous audiovisual production shown on the streaming platform NetflixThe Last Dance, which details the experiences of MJ in his last season with the Bulls in the NBA.
