{"id":611792,"date":"2026-02-19T14:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/611792\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:44:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:44:26","slug":"cooper-flaggs-nba-debut-jersey-sells-for-1-million-surpassing-victor-wembanyamas-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/611792\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooper Flagg\u2019s NBA debut jersey sells for $1 million, surpassing Victor Wembanyama\u2019s mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooper Flagg<\/a>\u2019s Dallas Mavericks rookie debut game-worn jersey sold privately for $1 million earlier this month through Sotheby\u2019s, the company announced Thursday. It\u2019s the highest known sale of a Flagg collectible to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people see Flagg with the potential for an American icon,\u201d said Brahm Wachter, head of modern collectibles at Sotheby\u2019s. \u201cI\u2019m not quite sure that, at least in my time handling sort of young rookie memorabilia, that I\u2019ve seen anything quite like this demand since LeBron (James).\u201d<\/p>\n

Flagg wore the jersey during the first half of his NBA regular-season debut, when Dallas played the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 22, 2025. The Flagg sale surpassed a Victor Wembanyama debut jersey sale in November 2023 for $762,000 through Sotheby\u2019s NBA Auctions program. Flagg and Wembanyama both wore multiple jerseys during their rookie debut games.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Flagg\u2019s jersey was sold privately for $1 million. (Courtesy of Sotheby\u2019s)<\/p>\n

Wachter said the choice to sell the Flagg jersey privately rather than through an auction like the Wembanyama jersey happened organically.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some clients that are very interested in rookie debut jerseys,\u201d Wachter said. \u201cI think in many ways, things from athletes\u2019 rookie seasons, we\u2019ve seen tremendous demand. There\u2019s always been demand for it in the collectible community. That\u2019s why everyone\u2019s always chasing rookie cards. But given the strong interest that we had and the price that we were able to get for the jersey, we just decided it was time to let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Jordan still holds the record for the most expensive rookie jersey sold. An autographed 1984 Chicago Bulls jersey worn during Jordan\u2019s rookie year sold through Sotheby\u2019s for $4.2 million<\/a> in March 2025.<\/p>\n

The Flagg jersey<\/a> did not include the Rookie Debut Patch he wore on it during that first game. The patch was removed from the jersey after the game and will be put into a one-of-one autographed Topps trading card that may be the next item to challenge both his top card and overall collectible record sales. (To date, Flagg\u2019s highest publicly known card sale was his 2025-26 Topps Chrome Silver Pack autographed 1\/1 Superfractor rookie card, which sold for $180,000 on Dec. 19.)<\/p>\n

Topps hasn\u2019t announced which set will include its first round of NBA Rookie Debut Patch cards. The program began in baseball, where the Paul Skenes Debut Patch card holds the record for the highest price within the concept\u2019s history, selling for $1.11 million<\/a> last year to Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods. The company has the card on display in a Pittsburgh-area store.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (Flagg\u2019s NBA rookie debut jersey and upcoming Topps Rookie Debut Patch card) are related, but they\u2019re not quite siblings,\u201d Wachter said. \u201cI would say it\u2019s very hard to extrapolate the value of that card without it going to auction. Having said that, I think it will be one of the most hyped modern cards that has ever come out. It wouldn\u2019t surprise me if we were talking about multiple millions for that card.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sotheby\u2019s will hold an NBA rookie debut jersey auction, presented in partnership with the league, with bidding from March 17 through March 23. The auction will contain jerseys from several rookies not named Cooper Flagg, including the Philadelphia 76ers\u2019 VJ Edgecombe, Charlotte Hornets\u2019 Kon Knueppel, San Antonio Spurs\u2019 Dylan Harper and New Orleans Pelicans\u2019 Derik Queen.<\/p>\n

The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cooper Flagg\u2019s Dallas Mavericks rookie debut game-worn jersey sold privately for $1 million earlier this month through Sotheby\u2019s,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,14305,6,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-611792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallasmavericks","12":"tag-mavericks","13":"tag-memorabilia-collectibles","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116097835426396678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}