T ake flight with Sotheby’s and Michael Jordan for this truly historic auction.
In early 2024 five-time NBA MVP, six-time NBA Champion, and perhaps the Greatest of All Time, Michael Jordan, added his bold signature to nine trading cards with a blue sharpie selected for the occasion. These were not ordinary trading cards. Of the nine, eight were some of the best-conditioned rookie cards the world has ever seen from one of the most beloved sets of all-time and one that, with Jordan’s help, brought regular mainline releases back to the basketball card hobby: 1986-87 Fleer.
Sotheby’s is proud to present and open to public bidding for the first time in history to its knowledge, a 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan Autographed Rookie Card graded a PSA 9, accompanied by the prestigious PSA/DNA autograph grade of 10. Additionally, this is one of just three Mint 9 cards graded by PSA with a 10 autograph grade at the time of writing.
A true piece of hobby history from a set widely considered to be one of the most important ever produced can now be yours.
In the mythical pickup game of all-time basketball greats, it is hard to imagine Michael Jordan going third overall. With the benefit of hindsight, it is even more shocking that Jordan went third overall in his class. It goes to show how much Jordan went on to change the game.
Conventional wisdom ahead of Jordan’s draft was that, more than an elite winger, teams needed a world-class big man to win the NBA title, and so if that slot was empty or in need of improvement, they would look more toward the best big men available than those filling other positions. Jordan was selected after fellow Hall of Famer and member of the 50 Greatest of All Time team Hakeem Olajuwon, who was selected first overall and went to the Houston Rockets and joined Ralph Sampson to go to the NBA Finals in 1986. He was also selected after Sam Bowie, who went second overall to the Portland Trailblazers, who the previous year had drafted fellow shooting guard and future Jordan nemesis Clyde Drexler. Jordan proceeded to top Bowie’s total career points and steals numbers during his third season, assists during his fourth season, and rebounds during his ninth season. Finally, with the third pick, fresh faced new NBA Commissioner David Stern stepped up to the podium to announce that the struggling Chicago Bulls had selected Michael Jordan. This was not the first time that Jordan had been looked over due to his size: Jordan had been left off his sophomore year varsity team in high school thanks in part to his relatively small stature. However, like that high school coach, Jordan was soon to show those who underestimated him that they had made a grave error.
“And now the noise factor begins to really increase, here is the man, they call him Mr. Jordan in Chicago.”
Just before his name was announced, Bulls fans erupted in excitement, jumping to their feet as Michael Jordan stepped onto the hardwood floor of Chicago Stadium for the first regular-season game of his career. He faced off against the Washington Bullets, the franchise he would later finish his career with.
Bulls starting center Caldwell Jones won the opening tip-off, flicking the ball directly into Jordan’s hands, marking the start of one of the greatest careers in professional sports. On the opening possession, Jordan attempted his first career shot, a mid-range jumper. It missed, but Steve Johnson gathered the rebound and put it back for an easy bucket—Jordan was just getting his feet wet. A few possessions later, Jordan flew down the court, attracting three Bullets defenders, allowing for an easy pass to Johnson for an effortless basket, the first assist of Jordan's career.
With just over seven minutes remaining in the first quarter, Jordan executed a near-perfect spin move, jumped in the air, and banked the ball off the backboard for the first two points of his career. He finished the game with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 4 blocks in a 109-93 win. October 26, 1984, not only marked a new chapter for basketball in the city of Chicago but also for the entire world.
"Michael is the most fierce competitor that has ever played this game. I knew he was gonna bring it."
1984 marked the return of the NBA Dunk Contest as a standalone event, highlighting the most creative, exciting, and high-flying dunkers of the sport. The 1985 Dunk Contest field may have featured the most stacked lineup of all time. Phoenix Suns power forward Larry Nance returned to defend his title, Dominique Wilkins sought revenge after finishing third the previous year, and 1976 ABA Dunk Contest champion Julius Erving made his final appearance in the event. Clyde Drexler, Darrell Griffith, and Orlando Woolridge were all making their second appearances. Two rookies were invited to participate in the event, hometown favorite Terence Stansbury of the Indiana Pacers and Rookie of the Year front runner, Michael Jordan.
While all other participants wore their respective uniforms during the opening round, Jordan distinguished himself by wearing black and red Air Jordan warm-ups, paired with a gold chain. The colors represented those of the Bulls, but no team logo was in sight. For his second attempt in the first round, Jordan executed a sideways slam, earning 44 out of 50 points. His third dunk, which scored 42 out of 50, was even more intricate, featuring a 360 pull-back slam. A computer malfunction led to a sudden-death ‘Dunk-Off’ between Jordan and Stansbury, with Jordan now sporting his traditional red Chicago Bulls uniform. Jordan impressed with a one-handed cradle style dunk, but another glitch in the system sent both competitors to the second round.
Jordan opened the semifinal round with a smooth, one-handed reverse dunk earning him 45 out of 50 points. For his third dunk of the round, Jordan began by placing a piece of white tape at the free throw line. Running the length of the court, Jordan leapt from the line and soared through the air for an epic, never before seen slam earning him a perfect 50 out of 50 points.
Perhaps Jordan should have saved his best dunk for last as he faced off against the previous year's runner up, Dominique Wilkins. Despite showing out of this world athleticism and air-time in the final round, Jordan would fall to Wilkins 147 to 136. This served as the beginning to a years-long rivalry between MJ and “The Human Highlight Film.”
If you tuned in or went to Chicago Stadium to see the Bulls on November 17, 1984, you were witness to a moment of global pop culture history, though you might not have known it. On that date, Michael Jordan wore his signature shoe, the one that Nike had changed the entire shoe industry in order to produce, for the first time in an NBA game. Weeks earlier, as Jordan finished the NBA preseason, he wore what many thought, and what Nike alluded to as, the Air Jordan I, when in actual fact they were Nike Air Ships donning the striking if not controversial red, black, and white colorway. The colorway stood in the face of the strict NBA policy that sneakers worn in-game must be 51 percent white. Referencing a game played on October 18, 1984, the NBA notified Nike that the colorway was in violation, and that they would be fining Jordan $1,000 for the first violation and then $5,000 for a subsequent violation. The NBA even threatened the Bulls with forced forfeits if Jordan wore the colorway in consecutive games. Nike was prepared, having offered to pay Jordan’s fines while capitalizing on the publicity of the ban by running the famous “Banned” campaign. It seemed to work.
After almost a season’s worth of anticipation, his exhibition of his aerial talents at the 1985 Slam Dunk Contest against the Human Highlight Film, and Jordan’s Rookie of the Year performance, the Air Jordan I was released to the public on April 1, 1985. The world of sneakers has never quite been the same since. Nike executives expected to sell 100,000 pairs in the first year. Within six weeks, they had sold 1.5 million. To this day, Air Jordans continue to be some of the most anticipated apparel releases around the world every year and have become a global fashion icon. Featured in countless media such as the “It’s Gotta be the Shoes” spot with Spike Lee in 1989 and the 1996 film Space Jam as well as various fashion collaborations such as design firm Off White and the OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital with the Doernbecher Freestyle. 40 years on, Air Jordan is still a name that drives the masses to sneaker stores, hoping to be like Mike.
“Sixty-threeeeee…wow” was all Chicago star Orlando Woolridge, the Bulls’ leader in total points in the 85-86 season thanks to Jordan’s broken foot, seemed to be able to say after looking at the stat sheet for a while. He had just witnessed his second-year teammate set the NBA record for points in a playoff game. Michael Jordan followed up an epic Game 1 performance, where he scored 49 points, with a stunning 63 in a double-overtime epic, a tally that still stands alone atop the list of single playoff game scoring barrages. Jordan’s masterclass included classic moments such as Jordan’s iconic dual crossover between the legs against Larry Bird that led to a gorgeous jump shot, his consistent drives to the lane against Celtic big men Robert Parish and Bill Walton, and an early glimpse into Jordan’s otherworldly prowess in the clutch, when with no time remaining he sank two free throws to send the game into its first overtime. Virtually every Celtic that touched the court that night tried to cover Jordan, and everyone that did seemed to walk away having given up a bucket. In the words of all-time defensive great Dennis Johnson, “As you can see, there’s nothing anybody can do to stop him.” Bird went further with the superlatives: “I would never have called him the greatest player I’d ever seen if I didn’t mean it…It’s just God disguised as Michael Jordan…I didn’t think anyone was capable of doing what Michael has done to us the past two games.”
