Michael Jordan’s game-worn sneakers from the 1996 NBA Finals ‘are sold for $482,600’ at auction 28 years after Chicago Bulls legend gifted them to a pair of Seattle SuperSonics ball boys
The Chicago Bulls dropped Game 5 in Seattle, 89-78, but bounced back at home in Game 6 to win the fourth of the franchise’s six NBA titles. Jordan was held to 22 points in the Game 5 loss thanks to suffocating defense by Gary Payton and Nate McMillan.
The buyer has not been identified by the auction house, and Sotheby’s spokespeople did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for more information on Sunday.
However, the sellers are identified as two former SuperSonics ball boys, who each received one of Jordan’s sneakers from Game 5 in Seattle.
As explained on Sotheby’s website, Jesse Sluyter and his fellow former ball boy ‘combined the shoes for this auction’ giving the buyer the chance to own the whole pair.
Sluyter also gave Sotheby’s an interesting backstory for the black sneakers with adorned with red trim and the Hall of Famer’s autograph.
‘From 1994 to 2008 I worked as a ball boy for the Seattle SuperSonics,’ Sluyter wrote for Sotheby’s. ‘My best friend and I were lucky enough to work the NBA Finals game in the 1995-1996 season when the Seattle SuperSonics played against the Chicago Bulls.
‘We worked every practice and Finals games 3,4, and 5. Michael Jordan and I got along really well in the Finals and he was very humble and sincere in all of his interactions.’
Jordan was apparently impressed with Sluyter’s ability as a ball boy, and noticed the young man had dropped a considerable amount of weight from one year to the next.
‘During one of the locker room TV interviews, during Game 4, he turned and asked me how much weight I lost during the offseason,’ Sluyter continued. ‘I answered back that I had lost over 50 pounds and my weight gain was due to the kidney transplant I had earlier in the year. All the steroids caused the weight gain.’
Jordan, perhaps the most famous person on the planet in 1996, proved to be gracious around the ball boys.
‘During Game 5 Michael gave me two tickets to one of the NBA Finals games and said bring your mom and dad,’ Sluyter wrote. ‘Later on after Game 5, the equipment manager of the Chicago Bulls asked Michael Jordan who his shoes were going to, he said ‘That ball boy’ [me] and my best friend.
‘After Jordan took care of the media, talked to the coaches, and cared for a Make-a-Wish Foundation child, I asked him if he would sign the shoes. He did it with a smile and said ‘Have a good night.’
‘I wished him good luck and finished up my work for the night.’
Jordan and the Bulls completed their dream 1996 season with a record 72 wins and dropped only three postseason games en route to the title. The team would beat the Utah Jazz in each of the next two NBA Finals, but that 1996 Seattle SuperSonics team may go down as the best Western Conference foe Jordan ever faced on that stage.
Jordan would average 27.3 points a game in the series, while Shawn Kemp led the Sonics with 23.3 points and 10 rebounds a night.
Jordan’s NBA Finals shoes have traditionally gone for six figures at auction. However, the pair he used for Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals went for $1.38 million at auction in 2023.