- A 21-year-old Iverson famously sold Michael Jordan twice on a double crossover, which has become one of the most iconic plays in NBA history
- The Bulls jersey was worn in 17 games during the championship winning 1996-97 season
- Jordan and the Bulls defeated the Sixers 108-104, with Jordan putting up 23 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals
A game-worn Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls jersey has just become the fourth-most expensive NBA jersey of all time. Worn for at least 17 games in the 1996-97 season, the jersey is noted for being the only MeiGray Authenticated red jersey from Jordan’s first five championship seasons.
But, much more significantly than that, it is the jersey Michael Jordan was wearing when a rookie sensation by the name of Allen Iverson hit him with a double crossover that shook the NBA forever more.
The game, which took place on March 12, 1997 in Philadelphia, saw Jordan’s Bulls roll into town against the Sixers and, despite His Airness and co. walking away with the W en route to Championship number five, the headline from the game was how 21-year-old rookie Allen Iverson twisted the four-time NBA Championship winning ankles of Michael Jordan not once, but twice, with a double crossover that has remained a part of basketball folklore forever more.
Speaking about the play during an episode of ‘All The Smoke’ with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson four years ago, Iverson said,“This that young boy s**t, you know what I mean? You ain’t seen nothing like this. And then I heard Phil Jackson call him out. He called him out on the switch. Now I’m going to try my move on the best person that I’ve ever seen play the game. Now I’m going to see if this move is real. And now I’m like, ‘Oh s**t’, and the craziest part is I didn’t know what I did until ESPN and everybody else talking about it. I hit him with that thang.”
The Bulls took the game 108-104, with Jordan scoring 23 while getting five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Iverson had himself a night outside of the double crossover, though, hitting 37 with 15-from-23 from the field.
Brilliantly, Iverson revealed to Shannon Sharpe in an interview how Jordan still isn’t over that fateful March night in ’97.
“I went to a Charlotte Hornets game, and he had me come in, and we in the back, and me and him just sitting back and drinking and reminiscing or whatever, and I was like, ‘Man, I love you, man.’ And he was like, ‘You don’t love me, you lil b***h. You wouldn’t have crossed me up like that if you did.’ Everybody in the room just bust out laughing, man. It was crazy,”
The $4.68m jersey, which sold as one of five lots from Sotheby’s ‘Colossal | The Ultimate Jordan Collection’ auction, is behind only Jordan’s own ‘Last Dance’ jersey ($10.1m), a signed Kobe Bryant jersey from his 2007/08 MVP season ($5.8m) and a Wilt Chamberlain Lakers jersey from the franchise’s first NBA Title run in 1972 ($4.9m) in the list of most expensive NBA jerseys ever.
In total, the Jordan-related auction fetched an eye watering $8.5m, as it also included a signed, game-worn jersey from the first game of the 1998 Eastern Conference playoffs during the ‘Last Dance’ season ($840,000); a University of North Carolina practice set of jersey and signed sneakers ($132,000); a game-used set of jersey and shorts from the 1988/89 season ($1.08 million); and a 1992 Summer Olympics ‘Dream Team’-signed American flag ($1.8 million) worn during the gold medal ceremony.
In February of this year, a set of six individual Air Jordan sneakers, worn by Jordan in each of his six NBA Championship wins, fetched a record breaking $8m as part of Sotheby’s ‘Dynasty’ collection – a new global auction record for game-worn sneakers.
As for the $4.68m jersey. Surely Bubba Chuck gets to see some of that money? Without his double crossover, there’s not as much history attached to the jersey. That’s how it should work. You double crossover Michael Jordan, you immediately earn some of the proceeds when the jersey he wore during that match is sold at auction.
(h/t ESPN)
