Someone Bought Michael Jordan's Legendary Flu Game Shoes for $1.38 Million
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Shoes worn by Michael Jordan during his famous "flu game" recently sold for $1.38 million at auction.
Jordan had initially gifted the shoes to ball boy Preston Truman.
Truman sold them in 2013 for a staggeringly low price and currently alleges foul play was involved in the sale.
Most of us probably know by now that high-end basketball shoes can cost a pretty penny. Game-worn basketball shoes? Even more. And if the game those shoes were worn in the famous 1997 "flu game"? You're looking at a cool $1.38 million at auction, as reported by Yardbarker.
Well, the people who bought the shoes from the ball boy Jordan gave them to in the first place are looking at a cool $1.38 million, at least. The ball boy himself? He's looking at less than 10 percent of that. And he's not happy about it.
On June 11, 1997, Jordan played in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals with what appeared to be flu-like symptoms, which earned it the "Flu Game" moniker. In actuality, as Esquire points out, the cause of his symptoms was food poisoning—but whatever the reason, the "Flu Game" has become a crucial piece of the legend of MJ, making the shoes worn during that game extremely valuable.
Jordan gave the shoes to ball boy Preston Truman after the game when "he remembered that Thomas [sic] had been able to get him a snack of applesauce and graham crackers before a game earlier that season," according to Yardbarker. As previously reported, Truman would later sell the shoes to an auction house called Grey Flannel Auctions, along with a pair of Air Jordan XIII Breds Jordan wore in Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Final, for staggeringly low prices—$104,000 for the "flu game" shoes, and $215,000 or the Air Jordan XIII Breds.
Truman later alleged that he only sold the shoes because of "threats, high-pressure tactics, and manipulation from the auction house," a decision that may have literally cost him millions.
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