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Former Jazz ball boy sues over iconic Michael Jordan shoes

A former Utah Jazz ball boy is suing an Arizona-based auction house and its director of operations. He alleges they schemed against him to sell a pair of Michael Jordan‘s game-worn shoes from the 1998 NBA Finals.

Preston Truman, a ball boy who was assigned to the Chicago Bulls locker room for Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals, came away from his shift a pair of the GOAT’s shoes worn that night. Jordan autographed the pair of ‘Air Jordan XIII Breds’ and sent a young Truman on his way.

He wound up keeping them for over 20 years. In 2020, he brokered a transaction through Michael Russek, the director of operations at Grey Flannel Auctions for $215,000. Last month, the same pair of shoes was sold through another auction house, Sotheby, for $2,238,000. It is the highest price a pair of sneaks have ever gone for at auction.

Truman alleges he was tricked by Russek

Truman’s alleges he only parted with the pair of sneakers due to Russek and and five others actions. He claims that he was put under “fraud, duress, and/or undue influence,” in the case. He seeks monetary damages as well as the return of the shoes.

The lawsuit states that on May 16, 2020, that Russek contacted Truman saying that an international anonymous private buyer wanted to purchase the sneakers for his own personal collection with the promise to never sell them. He offered a nonnegotiable $215,000 and gave him three hours to make a final decision.

Russek allegedly told Truman that the $215,000 was the best offer that he would get for them, so he agreed to the trade. Within a week, Truman contacted Russek in the hopes of cancelling the deal. He was told that “these are not the type of people you mess with,” and that the “sale was final.”

Truman now believes that there was never any private buyer in the first place. Rather, he was taken advantage of. Especially in the case of the three-hour time limit to answer the anonymous person’s offer.

“Plaintiff [Truman] was, in fact, induced to enter into the Agreement as a result of Defendants’ representations, promises, and/or omissions and would not have entered into the Agreement had Plaintiff known that the representations were false,” the lawsuits reads.

Two weeks after Truman’s transaction, an auction by Sotheby sold a pair of Jordan’s game-worn sneakers from his rookie season for $560,000. It was a record at the time. He claims Russek, Grey Flannel and the purchaser(s) of the sneakers knew of the auction. Truman says they were scouting it out before putting Truman’s shoes on the market for themselves.