Michael Jordan 'Last Dance' game-worn Air Jordan 13 (Game 2, 1998 NBA Finals)

A panther's paw on the hardwood

The Air Jordan XIII was the shoe Michael Jordan wore through much of his final season with the Chicago Bulls. Nike based its look on the black panther: the outsole is shaped like the pads of a panther's paw, and a hologram on the heel was meant to imitate a panther's eyes in the dark. The model first came out in 1997, and director Spike Lee had pairs months ahead of release for his film He Got Game, where the shoe appears prominently.

The pair on this page is the black-and-red colorway collectors call the 'Bred.' By the end of the 1998 Finals, Jordan had moved on to the Air Jordan XIV, the shoe he wore for the title-clinching shot in Game 6.

This size 13 pair is the last pair of Bred XIIIs Jordan is known to have worn in an NBA game.

The Last Dance

Bulls coach Phil Jackson called the 1997-98 season 'The Last Dance.' Everyone expected the dynasty to break up afterward, and it did. A film crew followed the team all season, and the 500-plus hours of footage became the 10-part documentary The Last Dance, which premiered April 19, 2020, and drew 5.73 million U.S. viewers for its opening night.

The 1998 Finals were a rematch with the Utah Jazz, who had beaten Chicago in both regular-season meetings. Utah won Game 1 in overtime on June 3 after a late three by Scottie Pippen just missed. Two nights later the Bulls answered in Game 2 with a strong fourth quarter that quieted the Delta Center crowd, winning 93-88.

Jordan scored 37 in Game 2 on 14-of-33 shooting and 9-of-10 free throws, in 40 minutes. The Bulls went on to win the series 4-2, and on June 14 Jordan's jumper over Bryon Russell with 5.2 seconds left won Game 6, 87-86, for Chicago's sixth title in eight years. He was named Finals MVP, averaging 33.5 points. The Finals drew an 18.7 Nielsen rating, the first time an NBA Finals outrated that year's World Series.

From a locker-room favor to a world record

Preston Truman worked as a Utah Jazz ball boy from 1996 to 2000, assigned to the visitors' locker room. After Game 2, Jordan took off the shoes, signed each one and handed them to him. Accounts of why vary: one says it was simple thanks for his service during the Bulls' visit, and others say Truman had found and returned a coat Jordan misplaced.

Truman kept the shoes for 22 years. In 2020, the year The Last Dance aired, he sold them privately for $215,000 through a sports memorabilia broker. In April 2023 they were offered at auction in New York, exhibited publicly on April 5, with an estimate of $2 million to $4 million. Bidding ran April 3 to 11, and the pair sold on April 11 for $2,238,000 including fees.

That broke the record for any pair of sneakers sold publicly, passing the $1.8 million paid in 2021 for Kanye West's Air Yeezy prototype. The previous high for Jordan sneakers was $1.47 million for a pair of Nike Air Ships in 2021. At the time, it ranked behind Jordan's Game 1 Finals jersey from the same series, which sold for $10.1 million in 2022.

After the 2023 sale, Truman sued the broker and its director of operations, alleging that high-pressure tactics, misrepresentation and implied threats had pushed him into the 2020 sale. He asked for the shoes back and damages. A Utah judge ruled against him and ordered him to pay legal fees; he has appealed.

How this pair is identified

The shoes are a size 13 Air Jordan XIII in black and red, signed by Jordan in silver marker on each toe box. They were described at sale as being in near-perfect condition for a pair that played a full half of an NBA Finals game.

Their standing rests on photo-matching. A specialist game-worn authenticator matched the pair to game photographs, and the sale described them as the only complete pair Jordan wore in an NBA Finals game, across all six of his Finals series, that the firm had ever photo-matched and authenticated, and the only complete pair from the 1998 Finals that it had authenticated.

Retail Bred XIIIs and the later retro releases of 2005, 2010 and 2017 look much the same. What separates this pair is the photo-match, the toe-box signatures and an unbroken chain from the ball boy who received them.

The numbers

Game

1998 NBA Finals Game 2, June 5, 1998, Delta Center, Salt Lake City; attendance 19,911

Final

Bulls 93, Jazz 88 (Chicago led 50-46 at half, outscored Utah 23-15 in the fourth)

Jordan box score

40:14 min, 14-33 FG, 0-2 3P, 9-10 FT, 37 PTS, 5 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 0 TOV

Jordan by game, 1998 Finals

Game 1: 33, Game 2: 37, Game 3: 24, Game 4: 34, Game 6: 45

Series

Bulls won 4-2; Jordan Finals MVP, 33.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 2.3 APG

1998 playoffs

680 total points, most of any player

Timeline

1. 1997

   The Air Jordan XIII is first released; Spike Lee features it in He Got Game.

2. Jun 3, 1998

   Utah wins Game 1 of the NBA Finals in overtime, 88-85.

3. Jun 5, 1998

   Jordan scores 37 in Game 2 in Salt Lake City, wearing this pair in the second half; Bulls win 93-88. He signs the shoes for ball boy Preston Truman.

4. Jun 14, 1998

   Jordan's last shot wins Game 6 and the Bulls' sixth title, wearing the Air Jordan XIV.

5. Apr 19, 2020

   The Last Dance documentary premieres.

6. 2020

   Truman sells the shoes privately for $215,000.

7. Apr 3, 2023

   Auction opens in New York with a $2 million to $4 million estimate.

8. Apr 11, 2023

   The pair sells for $2,238,000, a record for sneakers.

9. 2023

   Truman sues over the 2020 sale; a Utah judge later rules against him, and he appeals.

The world in 1998

• Jan 26, 1998

  President Clinton denies a relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

• Mar 23, 1998

  Titanic wins a record-tying 11 Academy Awards.

• May 14, 1998

  The Seinfeld finale airs to 76 million viewers.

• May 18, 1998

  The Justice Department and 20 states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.

• Sep 4, 1998

  Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

• Sep 8, 1998

  Mark McGwire hits his 62nd home run, breaking Roger Maris's single-season record.

• Dec 19, 1998

  The House votes to impeach President Clinton.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Michael Jordan 'Last Dance' game-worn Air Jordan 13 (Game 2, 1998 NBA Finals) is number 2 of 100 in the sneakers entries of the FLOAT 100. 22 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (2 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The XIII's outsole copies a panther's paw, and the hologram on the heel was meant to look like a panther's eyes in the dark.
• Spike Lee had the Air Jordan XIII months before it was released and put it in He Got Game.
• The ball boy sold the pair for $215,000 in 2020; three years later it brought more than ten times that.
• Jordan did not wear these for the famous last shot in Game 6. By then he had switched to the Air Jordan XIV.
• The 1998 Finals outrated that year's World Series, a first for the NBA.
• Phil Jackson, not a film studio, coined the name 'The Last Dance' for the 1997-98 season.