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"When it comes to preparation for the game, understanding the game, work ethic for the game, who taught you more? Was it Mike or was it Kobe? Because you played with Kobe on the Lakers as well." Kwame Brown: "I would say Mike because Kobe did like to isolate himself when he worked out. You see it, but it is like you see it in passing. ut you will see him leaving the weight room when you are coming in, and you will see him going out on the court doing his individual stuff. So you get to see him sometimes getting it in, but MJ would do it with you. MJ had the breakfast club. You get to up close and personal see the way he worked, the way he talks, the way he interact with people. So he was a more personable person than Kobe, but he worked just as hard."
Kwame Brown: "I think Kobe worked a little bit harder on defense, and he was obsessing over Michael Jordan a little bit. I remember he would practice carrying the little 45-pound dumbbells all around the court because his hands weren't as big as Michael Jordan. I think that is the only thing that set them apart. Michael Jordan's hands are like mitts. Kobe's hands are regular. So he had to work on his hand strength, so he would walk around the court with these 45-pound dumbbells on each hand, and every morning you see him doing that just to make sure he had his hand strength together. I am like, damn, let me try that too. He would pick up different traits. I never seen somebody do that."
Actor and entrepreneur Rob Gough stunned the sports card and memorabilia hobby for the first time in January 2021 when he purchased a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle in a PSA 9 (Mint) grade for $5.2 million. It was the most expensive known transaction for a sports card at the time and remains among the top 10 in 2026. Today, industry experts, as well as card pricing tool Card Ladder, place the card’s value between $20-$30 million. “When I announced my Mickey Mantle purchase, it went viral because everybody thought I was absolutely out of my mind,” Gough told The Athletic in August. “Who’s this insane guy spending $5.2 million on this baseball card? Is this guy crazy? That’s the reason why it was in the news. Everyone thought I was absolutely out of my mind.” He wasn’t crazy. Just early.
Gough shook the hobby again last month when he consigned a Michael Jordan “Last Dance” jersey worn during Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals to auction house Joopiter. Among the most important pieces of Jordan memorabilia to surface publicly, the jersey has a pre-sale estimate between $10-$15 million. A $10 million bid (more than $12 million, including Joopiter’s buyer’s premium) on Tuesday has ensured the Jordan shirt will top the public record of $10.1 million for a basketball jersey when the auction closes on Sept. 29. The previous record sum was spent on the jersey worn by Jordan in Game 1 of the 1998 Finals — a 88-85 Utah Jazz win over Jordan’s Chicago Bulls — at Sotheby’s in 2022. Gough’s Game 3 jersey was worn for a record-setting 96-54 Bulls win, which gave Chicago a 2-1 series edge, behind 24 points from Jordan. Chicago would go on to win Game 4 and Game 6 to secure the team’s second three-peat and sixth title in eight years. Neither of those jerseys have surfaced at public auction.
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Gough’s Jordan jersey once sold for $104,281 in 2015 with a letter of authenticity from memorabilia evaluation service MEARS. It was later photo-matched to Game 3 specifically by third-party authenticator MeiGray to give the jersey a direct link to a key moment in time. “For me, it has to be a winner,” Gough said of the jersey. “And I love things that change the momentum of something. That, to me, was so important. This jersey was from the most important game and was the most important jersey to own.”
The auction for Jordan’s Game 3 jersey arrives alongside a surging market for sports memorabilia and trading cards in particular. According to price tracker Card Ladder’s records, there have already been 53 known sales of $1 million or more so far in 2026, which is the highest total recorded in a single year. Many of the highest card sales in recent years have included game-worn pieces of memorabilia from the players featured, and Gough believes that trend has helped drive the market for memorabilia.
“I think the growth of the high-end card market has been very positive for game-used memorabilia,” Gough said. “Cards helped turn sports collectibles into a much more established alternative asset category. They brought in new collectors, created better price discovery, professionalized authentication and grading, and demonstrated that historically important sports objects could command eight-figure prices. “I think we’re now seeing some of that sophistication migrate into game-used memorabilia, particularly as photo-matching and provenance have improved. The markets are connected, but game-used memorabilia is fundamentally different. A card is a representation of an athlete or moment. A jersey worn during an important game is an artifact from the moment itself.”
James Brayshaw: "Is LeBron James in your view the greatest player ever?" Richard Jefferson: "There is no GOAT in basketball because there's multiple levels. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar I think had the greatest career, Bill Russell won the most championships, Michael Jordan is the icon, and I think Kobe Bryant and what he did mentally for the game and really for athletes all around the world. But I would just say if you were to build a basketball player, you could not build a better basketball player than LeBron James. There's no skill set he doesn't have, there's no physical ability. So for me, if I was building a basketball player, mentally and physically, he would be the person that I would build."
Patrick Beverley: "Montrezl Harrell gets into a verbal argument with Paul George. That dynamic doesn't look good. They let Montrezl Harrell walk. Lou Kennard comes in, he signs a four-year $60 million deal. They got Lou Williams, the most six-man in NBA history, they got him on an $8 million deal. Lou Williams pissed. I come in, I ask for an extension, they try to lowball me. So they're doing all of this to keep superstars happy. And then you get rid of Paul George, and you get James Harden, and you get Russell Westbrook. You get rid of them, and you cut Chris Paul. Only person that you keep is Kawhi Leonard. Phenomenal basketball player. Don't get it twisted. Kawhi Leonard, when healthy, is a phenomenal basketball player. It's not even close actually. He has Michael Jordan numbers when he's healthy."
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Who was your GOAT growing up? Danilo Gallinari: Michael Jordan. Why is that? DG: Because I guess I grew up in an area where all of us were MJ fans. So it was the guy, and he's still the guy in my opinion.
Who are your all-time Top 5 players? Danilo Gallinari: I would go with John Stockton; at two, MJ; at three, LeBron James, then Bill Russell, and Jokic.
Stefan Bondy: Jalen Brunson will be the first Knick to host SNL He’s also just the fifth basketball player after Jordan, Barkley, LeBron, Bill Russell. He’s just the third NYC-area athlete after Eli Manning and Derek Jeter
Out of 112 active or former players polled from one media outlet or another over the past four years, 49 picked James as the GOAT and 46 picked Jordan, with 17 votes going to other players. Out of 57 active players polled, 34 picked James (59.60 percent) and 17 picked Jordan (29.80 percent). Meanwhile, among 55 retired players, 29 picked Jordan (52.70 percent) and 15 picked James (27.30 percent).
