When the Los Angeles Lakers moved to Southern California in 1960, not many sports fans in the region paid much attention.
Back then, the area was crazy for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had recently arrived from Brooklyn and won the World Series in 1959, the Los Angeles Rams and college football. NBA basketball wasn’t big-time yet, and it was struggling to gain a foothold in the consciousness of American sports.
Buy Lakers TicketsBut with superstars Jerry West and Elgin Baylor strutting their stuff, the Lakers started to reach the NBA Finals with regularity and draw attention from locals. They reached the championship series seven times between 1962 and 1970, but unfortunately, they lost each time — even after Wilt Chamberlain came to town in 1968.
Finally, in 1972, they won the city’s first NBA championship in five games over the New York Knicks. Chamberlain had 24 points and 29 rebounds in the clinching game at The Forum and was named the series MVP.
The jersey he wore for that glorious and historic game sold at auction on Wednesday night for an amazing $4.9 million.
Wilt Chamberlain's 1972 NBA Finals Game 5 ‘Championship Clinching’ Game Worn Los Angeles Lakers Jersey sells for $4.9 million at @sothebys.
The jersey received one bid at the reserve price. pic.twitter.com/9xahoBiOlx
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 28, 2023
It was the third-largest sum of money a game-worn jersey has fetched, behind only singlets worn by Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
Chamberlain, who played his last five seasons with the Lakers, died in 1999 due to heart failure. Even to this day, the NBA’s record books are still heavily tattooed with the dominant center’s accomplishments, some of which look like entries from “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”
