Kobe's Childhood Sports Illustrated featuring Michael Jordan Shatters Record
In this story:
Kobe Bryant’s childhood copy of Sports Illustrated, featuring Michael Jordan on the cover, recently shattered records by selling for nearly $60K!
The gavel for the final sale dropped on Sunday, September 28th after 56 bids via Golden Auction, with the final price coming out to $59,887 including buyer’s premium.
The June 22nd,1992 edition of Sports Illustrated, with a CGC grade of 4.5, features an elated Jordan shortly after winning his 2nd NBA championship plus a label clearly showing Kobe Bryant’s name and address.
Collectors just can’t seem to get enough when Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant are immortalized together. Demand for collectibles featuring these two basketball icons has never been higher, and this recent Sports Illustrated sale shows there’s no signs of demand slowing down.
RELATED: Top 10 Michael Jordan Cameo Cards
This summer an Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs Michael Jordan & Kobe Bryant (1/1), 'grail' card made headlines after it set a record for highest selling sports card, when Kevin O’Leary, Matt Allen (aka Shyne150) and Paul Warshaw purchased it for $12.9M.
The prior record for most valuable sports card was a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (#311) card with a SGC grade of 9.5 which sold for $12.6M in August, 2022.
Significance of the 1992 NBA Finals
Michael Jordan put on a spectacular performance in the 1992 NBA Finals, helping the Bulls defeat the Portland Trail Blazers in six games. For those six games Jordan averaged 35.8 points, 6.5 assists, and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 52.6% overall and 42.9% from deep.
RELATED: 1990's Dunk'N Go-Nuts and other Product-Inspired Basketball Cards
While '91 proved Jordan and the Bulls were legit, '92 showed that Jordan was unstoppable. Not only was it his second straight championship, but it was also his second straight NBA Finals MVP. The iconic moment that '92 NBA Finals is most remembered for is Jordan’s “Shrug Game” in game 1, where he dropped a flurry of six 3-pointers and closed out the night with 39 points and 11 assists.
The 1956 Mickey Mantle Sports Illustrated
This record breaking Kobe-labeled Sports Illustrated destroyed the prior record for an unsigned copy of Sports Illustrated, which was a 1956 copy featuring Yankee's legend, Mickey Mantle. That issue, sometimes referred to as Mantle’s “rookie” SI cover considering it was his debut appearance, sold back in November, 2022 for $17,400.
In an interview that’s now over a decade old, Jordan once joked about Kobe stealing all his moves, and maybe he did.
Could it be that this record-breaking Sports Illustrated helped inspire a then 13-year-old Kobe to try to follow in Jordan’s footsteps? Who knows, but for collectors, provenance doesn’t get much sweeter. Jordan on the cover and Kobe on the label. How sweet it is, indeed.
Conor is a life long sports card enthusiast who started collecting in the early ’90s, inspired by hometown heroes like Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, Tom Brady, and David Ortiz. Like many ’90s hoops fans, he also started building (and continues to build) a modest Michael Jordan collection.