Michael Jordan ‘Flu Game’ Sneakers Sell for $1.38 Million

Michael Jordan’s game-worn and signed ‘Flu Game’ sneakers from Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals have sold for $1.38 million on collectibles marketplace Goldin.

A sick Jordan scored 38 points with 7 rebounds and 5 assists in a grueling 44 minutes that night to lead the Chicago Bulls past the Utah Jazz. The Bulls went on to win the ‘97 Finals in six games to win their fifth of six NBA championships in the 1990s.

The $1.38 million price for Jordan’s XII sneakers ranks fourth among all-time most-expensive sneakers sold, according to collectibles data company Atlain Insights. Jordan’s Nike sneakers consist of eight of the top-ten biggest sneaker sales, including his signed 1998 NBA Finals Game 2 Jordan 13s that were auctioned for a record-breaking $2.2 million in April.

Jordan handed his flu game sneakers after Game 5 of the 1997 Finals to Jazz ball boy Preston Truman, who hung onto them for 15 years before consigning the sneakers to Grey Flannel Auctions in 2013, where they sold for $104,765, according to ESPN.

Truman, who established a relationship with Jordan and would bring him applesauce before games, also once owned Jordan’s Game 2 NBA Finals 1998 sneakers before he consigned them to Grey Flannel Auctions for $215,000. 

After the ‘Last Dance’ sneakers resold with Sotheby’s this year for $2.2 million, Truman filed a lawsuit against Grey Flannel Auction, alleging they engaged in “high-pressure sales tactics, fraudulent misrepresentation, coercion, and implied threats” to agree to part with the shoes at an “unconscionably low value.”