Wilt Chamberlain's Lakers warm-up jacket found at Goodwill could sell for $250,000
Los Angeles Lakers Wilt Chamberlain (13) in action, making dunk vs New York Knicks, Inglewood, CA 4/30/1973--5/3/1973 (Photo by George Long/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (SetNumber: X17671)
A Los Angeles Lakers warm-up jacket worn by NBA icon Wilt Chamberlain could fetch as much as $250,000 at auction after being purchased for just $3 at an Oregon Goodwill store.
The backstory:
According to FOX 12 Oregon, 19-year-old Quinn Brown found the jacket after another shopper decided not to buy it and returned it to the rack. The gold-and-purple short-sleeved Lakers warm-up featured Chamberlain's name on it, prompting Brown to take a closer look.
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After comparing the jacket to Google images, Brown began to suspect he had stumbled upon something extraordinary. He shared a photo of the find on Instagram, where it caught the attention of Sotheby's, one of the world's leading auction houses.
Soon after, the jacket was transported in an armored van to New York, where it was authenticated by SIA Photo Match.
What they're saying:
"I saw the text, and he said your jacket has been matched to the 1972 NBA Finals. I knew the NBA Finals jersey sold for $4.9 million. That’s the jersey he wore under my jacket," Brown told the outlet.
Dig deeper:
Sotheby's confirmed the jacket was worn by Chamberlain during the 1972-73 NBA season, including the 1972 NBA Finals.
The authentication was based on photo matches to three separate images: an undated photo from the 1972-73 season, a January 1973 image from that same season, and an undated home game against the New York Knicks.
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The final image was identified as having been taken during either Game 1 or Game 2 of the 1972 NBA Finals, based on the distinctive bandaging on Chamberlain's hands, wrapping that has only been documented during the 1972 playoffs and Finals.
Big picture view:
Widely considered one of the greatest players in basketball history, Chamberlain averaged 30.1 points and 22.9 rebounds per game over his 15-year NBA career.
He remains the league's all-time leader in rebounds per game and ranks second only to Michael Jordan in career scoring average. His legendary 100-point game in 1962 remains the highest-scoring performance in NBA history.
Chamberlain also owns four of the five highest single-game scoring performances in NBA history, the record for points per game in a season (50.4), the most points scored in a single season (4,029), and the highest single-season field goal percentage ever recorded. He was a 13-time NBA All-Star and a four-time league MVP.
Chamberlain died in 1999 at the age of 63 from congestive heart failure.
The Source: This story is based on reporting by FOX 12 Oregon, which first detailed Quinn Brown's $3 Goodwill discovery and his account of the jacket's authentication. Additional information comes from Sotheby's. This story was reported from Los Angeles.