Key Points
- Brunson's Game 1 Finals jersey sold for $1,024,000 at Sotheby's after a 70-bid war.
- It is a record for any Brunson collectible and any Knicks collectible.
- The price tops the ~$1 million paid for Cooper Flagg's NBA debut jersey.
- All 15 Knicks Game 1 jerseys combined for $1,868,416.
The Knicks' first championship in 53 years is now blue-chip memorabilia. The jersey Jalen Brunson wore in Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals sold for $1,024,000 at Sotheby's on Wednesday after a 70-bid war — the most ever paid for a Brunson collectible and, per ESPN, the most ever paid for a Knicks collectible of any kind.
The number also set a record for a jersey sold through NBA Auctions, edging past the roughly $1 million paid earlier this year for the jersey Dallas rookie Cooper Flagg wore in the first half of his NBA debut. Authentication did the heavy lifting: the jersey was photo-matched to Game 1 by PSA, tying it to the exact night Brunson scored 30 points — 14 of them in the fourth quarter — in the Knicks' 105-95 win over the Spurs on the way to Finals MVP.
Brunson's shirt was one lot in a much larger sale of Knicks championship memorabilia Sotheby's built around OG Anunoby's Game 4 game-winning ball. In all, 15 Knicks jerseys worn or issued for Game 1 brought $1,868,416.
The read: memorabilia has started to price championship scarcity the way the art market prices a name. A game-worn jersey clearing seven figures — and outrunning a No. 1 pick's debut — is less about Brunson the player than about the object's story: the shirt from the opening night of the run that ended a 53-year drought in the league's biggest market. That is also why the sale has been contentious, with some players questioning who should profit when the league auctions the artifacts they create. But the market's answer, for now, is that a Knicks title is worth paying up for.
Source: ESPN, Bloomberg, NBC New York.
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