For most New Yorkers looking to savor the Knicks’ first NBA championship in 53 years, a commemorative T-shirt—perhaps purchased bootleg outside Madison Square Garden—will have to do. But for the lucky few superfans with a few million to spare, a far more rarefied piece of Knicks history is about to hit the auction block.
Starting June 30, Sotheby’s will offer the game-winning basketball from the Knicks’ improbable Game 4 comeback against the San Antonio Spurs, in which the team erased an unprecedented 29-point deficit at MSG. The ball was used on the game’s second-to-last play, when star forward OG Anunoby tipped in point guard Jalen Brunson’s missed three-pointer, securing a 107–106 victory. The tip-in sealed the largest comeback in NBA Finals history and set up the team’s clinching Game 5 in San Antonio two days later.
Sotheby’s has not announced an estimate, though sports business analyst Darren Rovell has predicted the ball will sell for $3 million. The auction house has dubbed it “The Hand of OG,” and it is being offered via online auction by the NBA, alongside 35 other Finals-related lots. Among them: game-used jerseys from several Finals games, the net from Games 1 and 5, and a piece of the court.
