LeBron James high school basketball jersey sells for record $512K

LeBron James’s high school basketball jersey sold for $512,000 and a new world auction record for a high school jersey.

LOS ANGELES – Julien’s Auctions held Sports Legends, the world-record breaking auction house to the stars’ sports event of the year on July 17 and July 18th in front of an international audience.

The most highly anticipated moment of the auction was the sale of LeBron James’ St. Vincent – St. Mary’s high school jersey which he wore for his iconic Sports Illustrated “The Chosen One” cover of the February 18th, 2002 issue. It realized at $512,000 and set a new world record for the highest selling price for a high school jersey sold at auction.

The sale shattered the previous world record held by Julien’s sale last year of Barack “Barry” Obama’s high school #23 jersey worn during his senior year at Punahou School as a member of the 1979 Hawaii State Champion boys’ varsity team, which sold for $192,000.

LeBron James wore the basketball jersey on the cover of a February 2002 issue of Sports Illustrated, which added value to the garment. Sports Illustrated magazine photographer credit: Michael J. LeBrecht II/LEBRECHTMEDIA

Consigned by investor Mark Pepitone from his world record-breaking collection, this photo-matched jersey was worn by James both for the historic photo shoot and the high school game that same evening where the future NBA icon considered the greatest player of all-time scored 32 points and collected seven rebounds. The most watched and famous pre-college prospect to ever play the game, James wore this very jersey when he was introduced to the sporting world by gracing his very first cover of Sports Illustrated.