The signed, game-worn jersey from Kobe Bryant's 2007-08 NBA MVP season -- the only year he won the award during his career -- just sold for $5.8 million at an auction!!
Sotheby's tells TMZ Sports ... the Bryant jersey set a new record for Kobe-related sports memorabilia sold at auction, and is the second-most valuable basketball jersey to ever hit the market.
Bryant wore the jersey for 25 games in '07-'08 ... averaging 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists while leading the Lakers to the NBA Finals for the first time since Shaquille O'Neal left.
Kobe also wore the jersey the same evening he was awarded the regular season Most Valuable Player Award on May 7, 2008 ... and during Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
"This jersey is iconic in a way we seldom see in sports artifacts," said Brahm Wachter, Sotheby's Head of Streetwear and Modern Collectables.
Experts initially expected the jersey to sell for anywhere between $5-7 million.
Sotheby's recently sold LeBron James' 2013 Game 7 NBA Finals jersey for $3.7 million in January -- and Kobe's MVP season jersey is in that same rarefied air.
Bryant and the Lakers lost to the Celtics in 6 games in the Finals ... but the jersey he wore during his MVP season and the performances he put up in it are cemented in NBA history.