Michael Jordan’s game-worn sneakers have been continually popping up at auction and commanding staggering prices ever since The Last Dance aired in 2020. Now joining the $1 million kicks club is the Air Jordan 12 "Flu Game" that Michael wore during the iconic game.
The game-worn and autographed pair of kicks sold Wednesday night for $1.3 million in an auction hosted by Goldin. After dropping 38 points in a Game 5 win during the 1997 NBA Finals, Jordan gave his pair of black and red Air Jordan 12s to Utah Jazz ball boy Preston Truman. Truman originally sold this pair for $105,000 in 2013, meaning a 1,200 percent increase in value over the past decade.
The original auction set a record for the price of game-worn sneakers at the time, but the latest change of hands won’t set another record. The Air Jordan 13 “Bred” that Jordan wore in Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals, Michael’s last, sold for $2.2 million in April. Also sitting at a higher mark is a pair of Nike Air Ships, now known as the Jordan Air Ship, Michael wore during his rookie season, which sold for nearly $1.5 million in 2021. If you want to be generous with the definition of “game-worn,” a Nike Air Yeezy sample worn by Kanye West at the 2008 Grammy Awards also sold for $1.8 million in 2021.
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Images via Goldin
Ian Servantes is a writer and editor based out of Brooklyn. He's previously covered fashion, sneakers, and pop culture for outlets including Input, Highsnobiety, and Complex.
