March 10, 2026
Michael Jordan’s First Sports Illustrated Cover Sets Record Sale Of $229,360
The basketball legend appeared on the cover while attending the University of North Carolina with teammate Sam Perkins
Another record has been broken regarding NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. The former Chicago Bulls legend’s very first appearance on a Sports Illustrated cover has netted that cover a record $229,360 at a recent auction.
According to The Athletic, the Noc. 28, 1983 cover featuring the University of North Carolina Tar Heels’ teammates, Jordan and Sam Perkins, was sold for the record price on March 7 through Goldin Auctions. The sale bested the previous record (for a graded magazine): another Jordan Sports Illustrated cover (Dec. 10, 1984), which sold for $126,000 in 2023.
The record copy of the “College Basketball Preview” issue was graded by CGC (Certified Guaranty Company, LLC.) as a 9.6 out of 10. The Dec. 10, 1984, Sports Illustrated cover, “A Star is Born,” also received a grade of 9.6. CGC, which also grades comic books, has been grading magazines since 2009. Goldin Auctions, through its listing, stated that the “A Star Is Born” cover has four CGC 9.8s, five 9.6s, four 9.4s, and three 9.2s.
The auction house described the cover:
“Before Jordan’s 1984-85 Star Rookie Cards. Before his 1986-87 Fleer RC. Before his “Star Is Born” 1st S.I. Cover in a Bulls uniform. Yes, before any of those iconic MJ masterpieces, back when His Airness still wore Converse at UNC, it was this Sports Illustrated issue, with this “No. 1“ cover, that marked the start of it all for the now billion-dollar business of Jordan collectibles.
The rarity of the cover is that it showed Jordan as a college athlete who did not have the expectations of being a legendary basketball player, unlike LeBron James, who was heralded as “King James” while he was still in high school (James never attended college, jumping straight to the NBA after completing high school).
There was no publicly available information about the person with the winning bid.
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