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A Los Angeles Lakers warm-up jacket purchased for just $3.07 at a Goodwill outlet store has become one of the most remarkable thrift store finds in recent memory after experts authenticated it as game-worn by basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain. The jacket is now heading to auction at Sotheby’s, where it is estimated to fetch between $150,000 and $250,000.
The discovery belongs to 19-year-old Quinn Brown from Portland, Oregon, who spotted the distinctive gold-and-purple jacket in the hands of another shopper browsing the bins at a Goodwill outlet store in January 2026. When the shopper decided against purchasing it and tossed it back, Brown quickly snatched it up. As someone who has been thrifting and reselling vintage clothing since high school, he immediately recognized something special about the garment.
“I saw somebody looking at it, and I was kind of waiting. They ended up just throwing it back in the bin,” Brown recalled. “I immediately grabbed it. I didn’t know what I had at the time, but I definitely knew it was something special.”
Brown initially thought he might be able to sell the jacket online for a couple of hundred dollars. Before finding the Chamberlain jacket, his biggest score had been a vintage Sub Pop T-shirt that he sold for $250. But as he examined the piece more closely, he noticed details that suggested something far more significant. The jacket featured Scovill buttons, which were discontinued in 1984, and had Chamberlain’s name stitched across the back in purple lettering. The size alone—Chamberlain stood 7 feet 1 inch tall—was another clue.
Brown began comparing the jacket’s stitching and details to photographs of Chamberlain from the early 1970s online. The stitch patterns seemed to match the jacket visible in photos from the 1972 NBA Finals. Within a week of sharing photos of his find on Instagram, multiple auction houses were interested. Brown chose to work with Sotheby’s for authentication and sale.
The authentication process proved conclusive. Sotheby’s worked with SIA Photo Match, a specialized authentication company, to verify the jacket’s provenance. The experts matched tiny details such as stitching, fabric wear patterns, and the placement of the Lakers logo to three separate archival photographs. Two were from the 1972-73 NBA season, Chamberlain’s final year in the league. The third photo, from a home game against the New York Knicks during the 1972 NBA Finals, provided particularly strong evidence. Experts identified the image based on distinctive bandaging visible on Chamberlain’s hands—wrapping that has only been documented during the 1972 playoffs and Finals.
The jacket’s significance extends beyond its connection to a legendary player. The 1972 Lakers championship season, during which Chamberlain wore this jacket, is considered one of the greatest in NBA history. The team finished with a 69-13 record and defeated the New York Knicks in five games to win the championship—the franchise’s first since moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. Chamberlain was named MVP of that Finals series, and he later revealed he had played Game 5 with a broken wrist. Items from Chamberlain’s final season are particularly scarce since no additional game-worn gear was ever produced after his retirement in 1973.
The market for Chamberlain memorabilia has proven exceptionally strong among collectors. In 2023, his 1972 Finals jersey sold for $4.9 million at Sotheby’s, making it the third-most expensive NBA jersey ever sold at auction, behind only jerseys worn by Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. An earlier Chamberlain warm-up jacket worn during the 1968-69 season sold for $56,400 in 2022, and specialists note that the market has strengthened considerably since then.
The auction opened on July 1 and is scheduled to close on July 20. As of mid-July, bidding had already climbed significantly, with dozens of bids placed on the lot, which carries no reserve price.
Brown, a recent graduate of Lincoln High School who has postponed his college plans to pursue reselling full-time, said he considered holding onto the jacket longer, suspecting its value would only increase. However, he decided to proceed with the sale. He has indicated plans to invest the proceeds in an index fund or real estate, though he also mentioned taking a trip to Vietnam with friends shortly after the auction closes.
The mystery of how the jacket ended up at a Goodwill remains unsolved. The only clue is a dry-cleaning tag still attached to the garment. Brown speculated that someone may have forgotten it after picking it up from a dry cleaner.
The discovery has captivated the thrift and collectibles community, highlighting both the potential rewards of dedicated searching and the unpredictability of what can surface in secondhand stores. For Brown, who spends 15 to 20 hours each week hunting through outlet bins, the find represents far more than just a profitable sale. It stands as one of the most extraordinary examples of sports memorabilia waiting to be discovered in plain sight.