Kobe Bryant’s LA Lakers jersey from his 2007-2008 MVP season sells for $5.8MILLION, making it the second-most expensive basketball top ever
A Kobe Bryant jersey worn during the 2007-08 NBA season by the player himself and exclusively sold by Sotheby’s has sold for $5.8million, making it the second-most expensive basketball jersey ever sold at auction.
Fifteen years ago, ‘Mamba’ played in the Los Angeles Lakers Purple & Gold uniform during his sole MVP season and has since been countlessly depicted wearing it in street art, especially murals in Downtown LA.
In California alone, there are over 15 murals depicting Kobe in this jersey, with wings, American flags, and snakes in the background.
Other forms of artwork, including magazines, books, and T-shirts have also showed the jersey, making it world renown.
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‘This jersey is iconic in a way we seldom see in sports artifacts,’ said Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of streetwear and modern Collectibles, in a statement.
A 2007-08 LA Lakers jersey worn in 25 games by Kobe Bryant has been sold for $5.8million
Bryant won the NBA’s MVP Award in the 2007-08 season and lost to the Celtics in the Finals
‘The image of Kobe wearing this particular jersey during the NBA Playoffs has permeated in popular culture, reprinted on murals, books, newspapers [and] has become a symbol of his fierce determination and passion that has resonated with audiences across the world.’
Bryant wore the uniform when he was awarded the MVP trophy at Crypto.com Arena on May 7, 2008.
He also hooped in it for 25 of 82 games that season, including in six playoff games and the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Lakers went on to reach the NBA Finals, only to lose to the Boston Celtics in six.
Bryant averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists in the LA’s first return to the championship title for the first time since Shaquille O’Neal’s departure to Miami.
A signed Lakers jersey worn by Bryant during his NBA rookie season was once sold for $3.69m in May 2021, making it the highest-selling basketball jersey ever in the history of sports memorabilia.
In September, a Chicago Bulls jersey worn by Michael Jordan in the first game of the 1998 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz sold via Sotheby’s for $10.09m, setting a new record for the all-time, highest-selling basketball jersey.
Sotheby’s also sold LeBron James’ 2013 Game 7 NBA Finals jersey for $3.7m in January.
Plenty of street art around the world depicts Bryant wearing the 2007-08 jersey, as seen in LA
