Karl Malone is in the news after he made a whopping $5 million from selling various Dream Team items at auction and a signed Michael Jordan jersey that read, “To Karl, good luck,” which according to reports brought in just over $3 million via SI;
The 1992 Olympic Dream Team is revered for getting the NBA’s biggest stars reinvested in the Games and restoring the U.S. men’s basketball team to gold-medal status after settling for bronze four years earlier. So it’s no surprise that when Hall of Famer Karl Malone decided to auction off memorabilia from his time on the team, the items fetched an enormous price.
Malone sold numerous Dream Team items at auction earlier last week, with the total haul coming in at over $5 million. The big ticket item was a signed Michael Jordan jersey that read, “To Karl, good luck,” which fetched just over $3 million.
Malone also sold a jersey and a pair of shoes signed by Larry Bird, along with a Magic Johnson jersey.
Malone joined forces with Jordan, Bird, Johnson, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and several other future Hall of Famers in cruising to the gold medal in Barcelona. Malone’s sale continues a trend of Jordan memorabilia performing well at auction: a pair of Air Jordans worn during Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals sold for over $2.2 million in April. Jordan scored 37 points in that game en route to his sixth and final NBA championship.
It is natural to question why Malone decided to put these items up for auction. However, it is important to note that there is no evidence suggesting that he is in financial trouble, especially given that he has not struggled with child support payments. It is possible that Malone, who has distanced himself from the NBA for various valid reasons detailed here, simply no longer had a personal connection to the items and saw fit to sell them. It is hoped that any profits made from the auction were given to his children, whom he had neglected for an extended period.
Flip to the next page for fans’ reactions…
