Wilt Chamberlain 1972 NBA Finals Jersey

Seven Finals losses, then this jersey

The Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960 and then kept falling one step short. They reached the NBA Finals in 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969 and 1970 and lost every time, six of those to the Boston Celtics and the last to the New York Knicks. In 1971, with Jerry West out injured, they lost the Western Conference Finals to Milwaukee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Going into 1971-72, many experts thought the window had closed. Chamberlain, West and Elgin Baylor were all in their 30s and all had missed significant time with injuries. The Lakers replaced coach Joe Mullaney with Bill Sharman, who brought in morning shootarounds, strict conditioning and a fast-break offense. He made Chamberlain captain and recast his game around defense, rebounding and quick outlet passes to West and Gail Goodrich. Baylor, unable to keep up with the new pace, retired nine games into the season.

This is the gold home jersey Chamberlain wore through the playoff run that followed. It is a Tiernan-made cotton jersey with his No. 13, and photographs match it to three games: Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals against Abdul-Jabbar's Bucks, a 135-134 win at the Forum, and Games 2 and 5 of the NBA Finals.

The Big Dipper at 35

Wilt Chamberlain was born August 21, 1936, in Philadelphia. He played at Overbrook High School and the University of Kansas and entered the NBA with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959. Listed at 7-foot-1, he changed the rules of the game: the league widened the lane, introduced offensive goaltending and revised free throw rules to limit him.

His scoring records are still the strangest numbers in the sport: 100 points in one game, 50.4 points per game over a full season, 4,029 points in a season, 45 games of 50 or more points in a season. He was a 13-time All-Star and four-time MVP. He won his first championship in 1967 with the Philadelphia 76ers.

By 1971-72 he was 35 and playing a different game. He averaged 14.8 points but 19.2 rebounds and shot .649 from the field in 82 games, and he was named to the league's All-Defensive First Team. He retired after the following season, entered the Hall of Fame in 1979 and died October 12, 1999.

Thirty-three in a row, and a broken hand

Beginning in early November 1971, the Lakers won 33 straight games, a record that still stands in the NBA and is cited as the longest winning streak in major American professional sports. On the way they passed the 1916 New York Giants, whose 26 straight wins had been the benchmark. The streak ended on January 9, 1972, in Milwaukee, 120-104. The Lakers finished 69-13, an NBA record that stood until the 1995-96 Bulls won 72, and Sharman was named Coach of the Year.

In the playoffs Los Angeles swept Chicago, beat Milwaukee in six and met the Knicks in a rematch of the 1970 Finals. New York won Game 1 at the Forum, 114-92. The Lakers took Game 2, 106-92, with Chamberlain in this jersey scoring 23 points with 24 rebounds, then won Games 3 and 4 in New York.

During Game 4 on Friday, May 5, Chamberlain fell and hurt his wrist. 'I knew it was broken on Saturday, when I saw the x-rays,' he said later, 'but no one else really knew it except the doctor and me.' He tied the decision to play to an old jab from Bill Russell, who had criticized him for not returning to a final game three years earlier with a torn knee ligament.

On Sunday, May 7, 1972, at the Forum, he played 47 minutes in Game 5, made 10 of 14 shots and finished with 24 points and 29 rebounds in a 114-100 win. Fans stormed the court. It was the franchise's first title since moving to Los Angeles and West's first after 12 seasons, and Chamberlain was named Finals MVP, an award the league had introduced only in 1969.

From the Forum to a record

The jersey also appears on magazine covers from that year, including the May 15, 1972, issue headlined 'Los Angeles Champions at Last!' and the October 16, 1972, issue headlined 'It All Depends on Wilt.' The published sources do not trace its ownership between 1972 and 2023.

On August 2, 2023, it was announced for sale with an expectation of more than $4 million, described as the most valuable piece of Chamberlain sports memorabilia ever to come to market. It was exhibited in Los Angeles in August and offered in an online sale in September, with photo-match letters from two game-worn authentication firms.

Bidding closed on September 27, 2023, at $4.9 million. That more than doubled the previous Chamberlain record, $1.792 million for his rookie-year Philadelphia Warriors uniform in June 2023, which had also been the most paid for any game-worn pre-1980 NBA item. At the time of sale it ranked third among NBA jerseys sold at auction, behind Michael Jordan's 1998 Finals jersey at $10.1 million and Kobe Bryant's 2007-08 MVP-season jersey at $5.8 million.

What the jersey carries

Championship-clinching jerseys are a category of their own, and this one carries three firsts at once: the first Los Angeles title for a franchise that had lost seven Finals there, the only Finals MVP of Chamberlain's career, and the end of the season that set the NBA's longest winning streak.

Its value has pulled other pieces of that series into the light. In July 2026 a short-sleeved yellow warmup jacket worn by Chamberlain during the 1972 Finals, bought for $3.07 at a thrift store near Portland, Oregon, sold at auction for $89,600, below its $150,000 to $250,000 estimate.

How to identify it: gold Lakers home jersey, No. 13, Tiernan label, cotton, matched by photographs to the three games listed above.

The numbers

1972 Finals Game 5 (May 7, vs. NYK, W 114-100)

47 MIN, 10-14 FG, 4-9 FT, 29 REB, 24 PTS

1972 Finals Game 2 (April 30, vs. NYK, W 106-92)

48 MIN, 10-19 FG, 3-7 FT, 24 REB, 23 PTS

1972 Finals (5 games)

19.4 PTS, 23.2 REB, 2.6 AST per game. Finals MVP. Lakers won 4-1.

1971-72 regular season

82 G, 42.3 MIN, 14.8 PTS, 19.2 REB, 4.0 AST per game, .649 FG%. All-Star, All-Defensive First Team.

1971-72 Lakers

69-13; NBA-record 33-game winning streak; 81 total wins including playoffs

Timeline

1. Aug 21, 1936

   Wilt Chamberlain is born in Philadelphia.

2. 1959

   Chamberlain enters the NBA with the Philadelphia Warriors.

3. 1960

   The Lakers move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles.

4. 1967

   Chamberlain wins his first title, with the Philadelphia 76ers.

5. 1970

   The Lakers lose the Finals to the Knicks in seven games, their seventh Finals loss in Los Angeles.

6. 1971

   Bill Sharman replaces Joe Mullaney as coach and names Chamberlain captain.

7. Jan 9, 1972

   Milwaukee ends the Lakers' 33-game winning streak, 120-104.

8. Apr 12, 1972

   Chamberlain wears this jersey in a 135-134 win over Milwaukee in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

9. Apr 30, 1972

   He wears it again in Game 2 of the Finals: 23 points and 24 rebounds in a 106-92 win.

10. May 5, 1972

    Chamberlain breaks his hand in Game 4 at New York; the Lakers win 116-111.

11. May 7, 1972

    Wearing this jersey, he scores 24 with 29 rebounds in the 114-100 clincher and is named Finals MVP.

12. May 15, 1972

    A magazine cover shows him in the jersey under the headline 'Los Angeles Champions at Last!'

13. 1979

    Chamberlain is inducted into the Hall of Fame.

14. Oct 12, 1999

    Chamberlain dies at 63.

15. Jun 2023

    His rookie Warriors uniform sells for $1.792 million, a Chamberlain record.

16. Aug 2, 2023

    The 1972 Finals jersey is announced for sale with an expectation of more than $4 million.

17. Sep 27, 2023

    The jersey sells for $4.9 million in an online auction.

18. Jul 20, 2026

    A Chamberlain warmup jacket from the same Finals, found in a thrift store, sells for $89,600.

The world in 1972

• Jan 16, 1972

  The Dallas Cowboys beat the Miami Dolphins 24-3 in Super Bowl VI.

• Feb 21, 1972

  President Nixon begins his eight-day visit to China and meets Mao Zedong.

• Mar 2, 1972

  Pioneer 10 launches, bound to become the first spacecraft to leave the solar system.

• Mar 15, 1972

  The Godfather premieres in New York.

• Mar 22, 1972

  Congress sends the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification.

• Apr 17, 1972

  Women run the Boston Marathon officially for the first time.

• May 8, 1972

  Nixon orders the mining of Haiphong Harbor, the day after the Lakers' title.

• Jun 26, 1972

  Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney found Atari.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Wilt Chamberlain 1972 NBA Finals Jersey is number 17 of 100 in the memorabilia entries of the FLOAT 100. 100 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (14 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Chamberlain played the clinching game with a hand he had known was broken since the day before.
• The NBA did not give a Finals MVP award until 1969, a decade into Chamberlain's career; 1972 was his only one.
• The Lakers' 33-game winning streak of 1971-72 still stands as the NBA record.
• Elgin Baylor retired nine games into that season, and the Lakers went on to win 69.
• The jersey's $4.9 million more than doubled the record Chamberlain's rookie uniform had set three months earlier.
• A warmup jacket from the same Finals turned up in an Oregon thrift store in 2026 with a $3.07 price tag.