A game-worn Sacramento Kings home jersey from Jason Williams’ 1998-99 rookie season has been sold privately for $140,000, setting a record for any item connected to the former NBA guard.
Authentication firm MeiGray confirmed the jersey’s provenance in December 2023, using photo-matching technology and a letter supplied by Williams’ father. The company linked the white jersey to more than six games during the lockout-shortened season, including the guard’s first professional preseason appearance and Game 3 of the Western Conference first-round series against the Utah Jazz.
“We have photo-matched only one white and one black Jason Williams rookie jersey,” said MeiGray president and COO Barry Meisel. “Back then, players typically had one or two jerseys for an entire season, and a rookie jersey is about as good as it gets for game-worn collectors.”
The piece was purchased by an anonymous collector represented by Curio Advisors, a firm that guides clients ranging from individual art buyers to financial funds—and, according to the company, even “nation states”—entering the sports memorabilia market.
“Interest in Jason Williams’ cultural impact is strong,” Curio Advisors founder and CEO Bradley Calleja noted. “He ranked in the top five for NBA jersey sales as a rookie, everyone knows his highlights, and only a handful of his game-worn jerseys exist. This is the only white one we’ve handled.”
The jersey also appeared on the cover of SLAM’s August 1999 issue, a photo regarded by SLAM Media president David Schnur as one of the magazine’s most celebrated covers. “Penny Hardaway and Shaq made the Magic jersey iconic, Jordan and Pippen did that for the Bulls, and Jason Williams did it for the Kings,” Schnur said.
Source: ESPN
