Auction house Sotheby’s has concluded its initial auction of 2024 NBA Finals jerseys, in which the Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks in five games. The Celtics now have the most titles in NBA history with 18.
The auction included Jayson Tatum’s uniform from Game 2, when he had a double-double with 18 points and 12 assists in a 105-98 Celtics win. It sold for $108,000—more than double its listed estimated range of $30,000 to $50,000. Finals MVP Jaylen Brown’s Game 2 uniform sold for $60,000.
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Mavs superstar Luka Dončić’s NBA Finals debut jersey sold for $50,400, which surpassed its listed estimated range of $25,000 to $35,000. Sotheby’s has a 20% buyer premium; for context, Goldin Auctions has a 22% buyer premium.
Although the Celtics, whose ownership group is exploring a sale of the franchise, will raise the championship banner at the start of next season, collectors don’t necessarily gravitate toward the winning team’s memorabilia, Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s senior vice president and head of modern collectibles, said in a video call.
“[The Dončić jersey] might see an upsized amount because it has a historical significance outside of what happened in the series,” Wachter said, referring to Dončić playing in his first NBA Finals. “I’m not sure the same would be true of [his] Game 2 [jersey].”
That historical significance he’s referring to is Dončić playing in his first NBA Finals. While this is the first time these jerseys will be sold, Wachter believes the passage of time could increase the value of the uniforms should they hit the auction block again.
“If you think about LeBron’s finals jerseys from 2012—some of which I believe were auctioned by the NBA in 2012—if you held them until now, they’d be considerably more valuable,” Wachter said. “Finals property is typically and historically the most coveted group of property that comes from the NBA.”
Wachter added that jerseys are the most sought-after items for NBA Finals memorabilia. Both Tatum—who recently agreed to an NBA record five-year, $314 million contract extension—and Dončić were among the NBA’s top 15 jersey sellers during the 2023-24 season. A Tatum jersey from Game 2 of the 2022 NBA Finals sold for $38,400 beating its $10,000-to-$20,000 estimated sale range.
The auction house announced a multiyear partnership with the NBA in November 2023, becoming the league’s official source for game-worn memorabilia. The NBA has an agreement with the teams to make some jerseys available for auction from various events such as the NBA Finals, Opening Day, the All-Star game and the Christmas Day games.
“Players sometimes keep some of [the jerseys],” Wachter said. “The NBA has a relationship with the teams and an agreement and understanding with the teams about which jerseys get allocated to this program.”
These Celtics jerseys will be the last ones with the VistaPrint jersey patch sponsor—the printing company signed on as a sponsor in November 2020—as the team announced a multiyear patch deal with Amica Mutual Insurance on Tuesday. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
Sotheby’s will release NBA Finals jerseys from the later games of the series in its live auction on July 30 in New York City and its online auction which runs from July 16 to Aug. 1.
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