Karl Malone Makes $5M After Selling Michael Jordan, Dream Team Memorabilia at Auction | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Daniel Foster A member of the legendary 1992 Olympic "Dream Team," Karl Malone made himself $5 million richer after auctioning off 24 different pieces of memorabilia from that Olympic run, according to ESPN's Dan Hajducky. The collection included game-worn jerseys and sneakers from every member of the team.
To no surprise, the pieces that belonged to Michael Jordan netted the most money as his jersey from a 127-76 win over Lithuania in the semifinals brought in a whopping $3,003,000.
It was the most anyone had ever paid for any game-used Jordan item from the Olympics.
Malone also sold a pair of Jordan's sneakers from the 1992 Tournament of the Americas—the pre-Olympics tournament where the Dream Team got its start—which went for $420,000.
Several other items from key members of the team such as Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley and David Robinson all fetched pretty high price tags themselves.
Most notably, Bird's and Johnson's jerseys from the game against Lithuania both sold for over $300,000. Meanwhile, Barkley ($230,400) and Robinson's ($116,400) jerseys also went for well over six figures.
Prior to the auctions, Malone used to keep the collection on display at one of his car dealerships in Utah. He ended up partnering up with Goldin's executive chairman and founder, Ken Goldin, to put it all up for sale.
"It was truly remarkable to have been able to work with Karl Malone himself to offer this iconic collection to fans everywhere," Goldin said. "Now a lucky few own a piece of revolutionary sports history from some of the greatest players of all time."
Malone, a Hall of Famer, was a legendary member of the Utah Jazz teams from the '90s, forming one of the league's best-ever duos with John Stockton. He finished his career as the second-leading scorer in NBA history with 36,928 points.