A botched auction for rookie-season sneakers sparks a high-stakes legal battle, as a former ball boy alleges ownership disputes cost him hundreds of thousands in memorabilia profits.
Preston Truman probably didn't imagine that being a Utah Jazz ball boy in the late 1990s would still have him tied to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant nearly three decades later.
Or that two pairs of shoes would eventually put him in the middle of multiple lawsuits.
Truman, who worked as a Jazz ball boy from 1996 to 2000, filed a lawsuit in Utah's 3rd District Court on Aug. 12 against Jason Silverstein and GWC Holdings LLC over a pair of shoes Bryant wore during his rookie-season playoff run, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
Truman alleges an ownership dispute initiated shortly before the shoes were scheduled to sell through Heritage Auctions in 2023 disrupted the auction and cost him a significant payday.
And we're talking about quite the difference.
Heritage expected the Bryant shoes to sell for at least $300,000, according to The Tribune. Instead, they eventually fetched $99,000, with Truman receiving $82,500 after commission.
The dispute traces back to Silverstein's previous investment in the shoes.
According to Truman's lawsuit, Silverstein purchased a 30% interest through Collectable, a platform allowing investors to purchase fractional interests in sports memorabilia. Truman alleges he bought out that share for $30,000 in March 2023 and became the shoes' sole owner.
But days before the Heritage auction was scheduled to close that August, the auction house received a letter claiming an unidentified party still held an ownership interest in the shoes.
Truman alleges Silverstein was behind it.
Heritage subsequently placed the sale on hold while Truman assembled documentation establishing his ownership, according to the lawsuit. The auction eventually resumed, but Truman argues the uncertainty scared away potential bidders and depressed the final price.
The legal battle comes with another interesting Jazz connection.
Truman received a pair of Michael Jordan's Air Jordan XIII "Breds" directly from the Chicago Bulls star after Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals against Utah. Truman sold those shoes for $215,000 in 2020 before they eventually sold at Sotheby's for $2.238 million, including fees, in 2023.
That transaction has produced its own collection of litigation.
Truman sued parties involved in his original sale, alleging he was coerced into accepting an unfair price. A Utah judge ruled against him and ordered Truman to pay legal fees, a decision he has appealed.
GWC, which later acquired the Jordan shoes, also sued Truman in 2023 after his attorney challenged their ownership ahead of the Sotheby's auction. That case remains ongoing, according to The Tribune.
Now Truman alleges that existing legal fight provided part of the motivation for what happened with his Bryant memorabilia.
He is seeking at least $200,000 in compensatory damages, along with punitive damages, restitution, attorney fees and other relief.
Almost 30 years after Truman collected memorabilia while working Jazz games, the shoes he walked away with are still producing stories of their own.
