Thirteen years ago, Kobe Bryant’s game-worn Lower Merion High School jersey sold for $51,400. This week, it went for more than $2 million.
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The maroon No. 33 jersey from Bryant’s junior season sold for $2,176,000 at Sotheby’s on Wednesday, October 28, setting a new auction record for a high school basketball jersey. Fanatics Collect shared the result on X, noting it’s now the most expensive high school jersey ever sold at auction. It received 26 bids from seven bidders and blew past Sotheby’s pre-sale estimate of $1 million to $2 million.
The sale also broke the previous record held by LeBron James. The St. Vincent-St. Mary jersey James wore on his famous “The Chosen One” Sports Illustrated cover sold for $1.3 million in 2024. Bryant’s jersey topped that by about $876,000.
The jersey’s value has climbed dramatically since it was first sold. It sold through Goldin Auctions in 2013 for $51,400 and had been in private hands since. Compared to that price, this week’s sale is an increase of about 4,133%, or roughly 42 times what it sold for 13 years ago.
The Story Behind Bryant’s No. 33 Lower Merion Jersey
Bryant began his career at Lower Merion wearing No. 24 before switching to No. 33, the same number his father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, wore in high school.
This jersey comes from his junior season in 1994-95. That year ended on March 18, 1995, with a 64-59 overtime loss to Hazleton in the second round of the state playoffs, despite Bryant’s 33 points and 15 rebounds. The following year, as a senior, he led Lower Merion to the 1996 Pennsylvania state championship, the school’s first in more than 50 years.
Bryant then ended up declaring for the NBA straight from high school. He entered the 1996 draft and was picked 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets before trading him to the Los Angeles Lakers. He ended up winning five championships and two Finals MVP awards.
The jersey’s provenance also contributed to its significance among collectors. It originally came from the collection of Bryant’s mother, Pamela Bryant, before passing to a private collector. SIA Photo Match matched the jersey to photographs from Bryant’s 1995 playing days. A signed letter from Pamela also identified it as one her son wore during high school. These details helped establish its connection to Bryant’s time at Lower Merion and provided additional documentation supporting its history.
The result highlights the collectors’ demand for memorabilia from the early playing careers of basketball’s biggest names.