A teenager rummaging through used clothing at a Goodwill Store in Oregon stumbled upon a yellow Los Angeles Lakers warm-up jacket priced at just $3.07. The jacket was found to belong to the great Wilt Chamberlain, who played for the Lakers during their 1972 NBA Finals victory over the New York Knicks. it turned out to be a basketball history collector’s item While this appeared to be an ordinary purchase from a thrift store.
The achievements of Chamberlain, along with his involvement with two teams that won a championship, made sports memorabilia from his time as a player highly sought after by sports enthusiasts. He found the jacket at a thrift shop in Portland while he was rummaging through a huge bin of clothes where someone else had picked it up and returned it to the store. At the time, he had no idea that the jacket was in some way related to one of the best basketball players. The journey of the jacket started with a simple trip to the thrift shop, where Brown bought the item for less than a cup of coffee at most places.
Sotheby’s auction catalog identifies the garment as a game-winning champion Lakers warm-up jacket from the 1972 finals. The auction house matched the short-sleeve yellow jacket to photographs from the three games during the 1972-73 regular season, Chamberlain’s final NBA season. Listed in the auction house’s Summer Sports Classic sale, it attracted 48 bids. Sotheby’s had estimated its value at $150,000 to $250,000, but the final sale price was considerably lower. Brown had made the purchase for only $3.07. Chamberlain was a professional basketball player between 1959 and 1973 and became one of the most revered players in the game. He is also known for scoring 100 points in a single game back in 1962, a record that still stands. The Associated Press notes that a game-worn jersey from the same championship series went for $4.9 million at Sotheby’s in 2023. Photographic comparisons and Sotheby’s verification established its connection to Chamberlain, helping turn a $3.07 purchase into an $89,600 auction sale.
Quinn Brown was the seller of the jacket at auction, according to the Associated Press .
The jacket’s value was directly associated with the Lakers’ 1972 championship season. It was his second championship in the NBA after the one he had won with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967. The team triumphed over the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, where Chamberlain was named Most Valuable Player of the series.
