THE jersey worn by Kobe Bryant during his 1996 NBA debut sold for a record-breaking $7 million at auction in New York on Thursday, 25 April.

The sale sets a new high for records associated with the late Los Angeles Lakers icon.

According to the auction house, the gold No. 8 jersey was photo-matched to several appearances during Bryant’s rookie season, including his first media day, preseason debut.

His regular season debut was on November 3, 1996, against the Minnesota Timberwolves. In that game, the then-18-year-old guard played just six minutes and recorded no points on 0-for-1 shooting.

“This jersey represents a bridge between the raw potential of a teenage prodigy and the refined greatness that would follow,” the auctioners – Sotheby – said in a statement. The same jersey previously sold for $115,242 at a 2012 auction.

The $7 million sale surpasses the previous record for Bryant; a signed, game-worn jersey from his 2007-08 MVP season, which sold for $5.85 million. It also exceeds the price of Michael Jordan’s rookie-season jersey, which fetched just over $4 million in 2023.

Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of modern collectables, emphasised the historic value of the piece: “Early rookie jerseys represent the genesis of an athlete’s career. For collectors in search of true one-of-one treasures, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own iconic pieces of basketball history.”

Despite averaging just 7.6 points per game in his rookie season, Bryant would go on to become one of the most celebrated athletes in sports history, winning five NBA championships before retiring in 2016. He died in a helicopter crash in 2020, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others.

The jersey now ranks as the fourth most expensive game-worn sports jersey ever sold, behind Babe Ruth’s 1932 “called shot” jersey ($24 million), Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals jersey ($10.1 million), and Diego Maradona’s 1986 World Cup “Hand of God” shirt ($9.3 million).