The Lane · Essay

The Flu Game 12 Sold Twice for $1.48 Million

A Utah ball boy kept Michael Jordan's Game 5 shoes in a bank vault for 15 years. The pair went from $104,765 to $1.38 million in a decade, and Jordan Brand learned how to sell a story.

By PHRHX · Published November 6, 2026

Photo: Sneaker Bar Detroit

There is one pair of Air Jordan 12s that matters more than every retro combined, and it was never for sale at Foot Locker. Game 5 of the 1997 Finals, June 11, Salt Lake City: Jordan played 44 minutes, scored 38 with seven rebounds and five assists, hit the three with 25 seconds left, and collapsed into Scottie Pippen's arms. The black-and-red 12s came off his feet and went to a Jazz ball boy. Everything Jordan Brand has done with the "Flu Game" name since is an attempt to sell a copy of that pair.

Preston Truman's vault

The ball boy was Preston Truman. He had gotten Jordan graham crackers and applesauce before the game, asked for the shoes afterward, and got them signed. Wikipedia's entry on the shoes records what happened next: Truman put the size 13s in a bank vault for 15 years and turned down an $11,000 offer along the way. In December 2013 he consigned them to Grey Flannel Auctions with a $5,000 opening bid. They sold for $104,765, a record for game-worn sneakers at the time, ESPN reported. A kid who worked the Delta Center for a few dollars an hour held the single most valuable object from the most-mythologized game of the decade, and he priced it correctly by waiting.

The second sale is where the decade of sneaker inflation shows up. Goldin opened bidding at $500,000 on June 14, 2023, and passed $1 million inside two weeks. The pair closed at $1.38 million, per Sneaker Freaker. Same shoes, same signature, ten years apart: a 13x return. That is not a sneaker market. That is the memorabilia market absorbing sneakers, with Sotheby's and Goldin treating a Jordan 12 like a Babe Ruth jersey.

It was never the flu

The name is a fiction the brand has chosen to keep. Trainer Tim Grover has said for years that Jordan had food poisoning from a late-night pizza, not influenza, and Wikipedia notes the "Flu Game" branding stuck anyway. Jordan Brand has never corrected it, because "Food Poisoning Game" does not sell at $200. The retro history follows the name: the black and Varsity Red 12 has come back repeatedly, most recently on March 1, 2025 (CT8013-002) at $200 for men's, $150 grade school, $90 preschool and $75 toddler, per Sneaker Bar Detroit. Full family sizing on a shoe named after an adult vomiting in a Utah hotel room is its own kind of marketing achievement.

The naming economy

What the Flu Game taught Jordan Brand is that a name is worth more than a colorway. The 12's playoff moment was a black shoe with red accents; on its own that is a Bred. Attach a story and the same materials become a $1.38 million artifact and a recurring retail event. The brand has since applied the method to the rest of the 12's calendar. "Taxi" and "Playoffs" are colorways with nicknames that predate the marketing department; newer names are engineered. The Air Jordan 12 "Fireside", a rework of the old Eggnog palette with a hearth story attached, is the current version of the play, and the Ray Allen "Bucks" 12 sells a Team Jordan PE story to people who never saw Allen play in Milwaukee.

The formula: find a moment, name the shoe, retro it in family sizes, and let the auction market set a ceiling that makes $200 feel like a bargain. The Truman pair is the ceiling. Every Flu Game retro since 2013 has been priced in its shadow.

Who got paid

Follow the money and the picture is uneven. Truman got $104,765 for keeping his head. The 2023 seller, whoever bought it from Grey Flannel, made roughly $1.27 million for holding it through a bull market. Goldin and Grey Flannel took their buyer's premiums. Nike collects on every retro and pays Jordan his royalty. The Jazz, whose ball boy made the whole thing possible, got a memory. Jordan himself, the man who was actually sick, has sold the story more times than anyone, and he does it through a brand he does not own.

The take

The Flu Game 12 is the best evidence that Jordan Brand sells narrative, not leather. A ball boy understood that in 1997 and priced it patiently. The brand understood it later and priced it annually. Both were right. The lesson for anyone holding a game-worn anything: the story appreciates faster than the shoe, and the people who own the story are rarely the people who lived it.

## Sources - Flu Game shoes — Wikipedia - MJ's 'flu game' shoes shatter auction record — ESPN, December 12, 2013 - Michael Jordan's 'Flu Game'-Worn Air Jordan 12s Sell for $1.38 Million — Sneaker Freaker, June 2023 - Air Jordan 12 Flu Game 2025 Release Date — Sneaker Bar Detroit, February 12, 2025 - Game-Worn, Autographed "Flu Game" Air Jordan 12 Sells for $104,765 — Nice Kicks, December 12, 2013

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KenTheMan Drops 'I Love 304s' — a Houston EP — KenTheMan's I Love 304s landed Oct. 13, 2026 — a 5-track EP with the Houston area code in the title. What it is, what's unverified, and why it matters.
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Edgerunners 2 Is 10 Episodes, Drops Oct. 20 — Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 premieres Oct. 20, 2026, with all 10 episodes at once on Netflix. What's confirmed, what's not, and why the week changes.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Launches Oct. 15 — Castlevania: Belmont's Curse launches Oct. 15, 2026. What's confirmed, what's not, and why it's a support slot.
Jay-Z Bought the Building, Not Just the Keys — Roc-A-Fella to Def Jam to Roc Nation, and the Reasonable Doubt fight that turned a friendship into a corporate-governance question.
Union LA Wrote the Boutique Collab Blueprint — Chris Gibbs turned a 1989 New York transplant on La Brea into the shop Jordan Brand trusted with the Air Jordan 1's silhouette itself.
Bad Bunny Became adidas's Biggest Signature Name — From the Forum Buckle Low to the Gazelle and Campus runs, a Puerto Rican artist quietly took over the job adidas had spent a decade outsourcing.
Black on Both Sides at 27: Rawkus Wasn't Indie — Twenty-seven years on, the Brooklyn solo debut still sounds like a musician's record. The label that released it was funded by money from a very different world.
The Pocket: How Travis Scott Rebuilt the Air Jordan 6 — The 2019 Cactus Jack 6 added a stash pocket to a 28-year-old shoe and sold out at $250. The British Khaki follow-up proved the trick worked twice.
The $51 Million Lawsuit That Froze Tha Carter V — Lil Wayne sued Cash Money in 2015 over an unpaid advance and a shelved album. The paperwork exposed how an imprint deal really distributes money.
Def Jam: Fight for NY Can't Legally Come Back — Sixty-plus rappers, one PS2 disc, and a rights structure so tangled that EA has spent twenty years unable to re-release the best hip-hop game ever made.
The Freeze Out 1 Showed How Pairs Really Move — Trophy Room's 2021 Air Jordan 1 sold out before most people could load the page, and the backdoor allegations that followed said more about retail than about the shoe.
Ye and Jay-Z's 'Living So Italian' Reportedly Leaks — HotNewHipHop says the unreleased Watch the Throne-era cut is out there. What's reported, what isn't, and why it probably isn't dropping.
URL's London Card: Dizaster vs. Rum Nitty and More — Dizaster vs. Rum Nitty, Calicoe vs. T-Top and Tay Roc vs. Illmac are set for NOME 16. What URL has confirmed so far.
Ravik Is a Free Drum Synth With 47 Engines — Våld Labs' Ravik is in free public beta: eight channels, 47 engines, generative sequencing. AU, VST3 and iOS.
215: A Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff Series Is Coming — Westbrook Studios and The Malar Group are developing '215,' set in late-1980s West Philadelphia. What's known so far.
Cyberpunk 2077 Live-Action Movie Is Coming to Paramount — Deadline reports Paramount is developing it with Lorenzo di Bonaventura producing and CD Projekt Red co-producing. No director, cast or date yet.
Space Jam 30th: Every Air Jordan 11 Release Date — Twelve SKUs: the Air Jordan 11 'Space Jam' Dec. 12, 'Magic Ball' Nov. 11, 'Green Screen' Nov. 16 — and a Laser pair you can't buy.
Madoka Magica: Walpurgisnacht Rising Gets a U.S. Date — Aniplex of America and Fathom Entertainment say Walpurgisnacht Rising hits U.S. theaters Jan. 16. What's confirmed.
Donuts: The Hospital Myth and the Real Method — Stones Throw released Donuts on Dilla's 32nd birthday and he died three days later. The story of how it was made is more complicated than a sampler on a bed tray.
Madden Sells Black Labor and Calls It a Curse — EA's exclusive NFL license is the most profitable arrangement in sports games. The players whose likenesses fill it negotiate through a union deal separate from the league's.
Air Jordan 3 Santa Drops Nov. 21, 2026: Price, Details — The Air Jordan 3 "Santa" IF4396-601 is slated for November 21, and the price depends on which outlet you ask.
YoungBoy Never Broke Again Says He Wants to Quit Rap Now — In an i-D cover story, NBA YoungBoy says the situation is bigger than him and that his legacy is his kids.
GloRilla Launches GloVerse Beauty App in Atlanta Beta — GloVerse connects clients with hairstylists and makeup artists. Beta is live in Atlanta, full app targeted for December.
Aoashi Season 2 Premieres on Crunchyroll: Starting Line — Ashito Aoi gets promoted to the A Team and immediately learns how far behind he is. Season 2 streams on Crunchyroll.
Valor Mortis PS5 Release Oct. 13, 2026: $39.99 Soulslike — One More Level's first-person Soulslike hits PS5 October 13 after a delay. The price is the headline.
Ye Did Perform With Carti at ComplexCon — Complex and HotNewHipHop now both report Ye performed three songs in Carti's ComplexCon set. What we know, what we don't, and the week ahead.
Offset Drops 'Every Night' With Don Toliver — Offset and Don Toliver's 'Every Night' is out and sits on the GMFU rollout. The album date is Oct. 23. Here's what we know.
Dizaster vs. Rum Nitty Is Set for London, Oct. 25 — URL added Dizaster vs. Rum Nitty to the Oct. 25 Night of Main Events card in London, the same night as Tay Roc vs. Illmac.
Two Free Tools: UVI Prisma and the Ravik Drum Synth Beta — UVI Prisma, a $149 instrument, is free at Loot Audio while codes last. Våld Labs' Ravik drum synth is in free public beta.
Jordan Brand's Space Jam 11 Collection: Dates and What's Not Releasing — Sneaker News breaks down the 12-SKU Space Jam collection: the retro on Dec. 12, Green Screen and Magic Ball in November, and pairs that won't release.
GTA 6 Radio: Six Stations, Including Southern Rap — Rockstar revealed six GTA VI radio stations, previews you can hear now, and a Southern rap station hosted by Trick and Trina.
The CDPR Dev on Cyberpunk's Switch 2 and Mac Work — A CD Projekt Red developer says the Cyberpunk 2077 Switch 2 effort gave the team its DLSS experience for the Witcher 3 remaster.
Edgerunners 2 'Something Real' Sneak Peek Pulls 1.9M Views — Netflix's 'Something Real' sneak peek for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is at 1.9 million views on YouTube. The premiere is 11 days out.
NBA YoungBoy Says He Wants to Quit Rap Right Now — In a new i-D cover story, NBA YoungBoy says he'd quit right now, but his kids and his influence are keeping him in. What's said, and what isn't.
Cardi B and the GTA VI Soundtrack: What's Reported — A Spotify listing, an Instagram Story hoodie, and no word from Rockstar. What's reported, what isn't confirmed.
Air Jordan 3 Lola Bunny Release Date, Price (Nov. 5) — Reported Nov. 5 at $155 in girls' sizing. The real question is who gets to buy it.
Pharrell Wants Chad Hugo's Neptunes Suit Thrown Out — An Oct. 6 filing says Chad Hugo's complaint can't say which songs he's owed on. Hugo's side says Pharrell held back Neptunes and N.E.R.D. money. No ruling yet.
Dame Dash Says Jay-Z Cut Him Loose to Be a 'Businessman' — On a Sept. 29 episode of Quiet Part Out Loud, Dame Dash described a final meeting with Jay-Z and claimed Reasonable Doubt rights were the ask. These are Dame's allegations.
Offset Faces a Possible $200K Default Judgment in Casino Case — MotorCity Casino sued over a $100,000 debt. Michigan's bad-check law could double it. The casino has until Oct. 23 to seek a default.
Teyana Taylor's Air Jordan 16 Collab: What We Know — A reported Air Jordan 16 SP for Summer 2027 would be her third Jordan project. No images, no price, no confirmation yet.
Crenshaw at 13: The $100 Mixtape Was a Ledger — Thirteen years after Nipsey Hussle sold 1,000 copies at $100 apiece in a day, Proud2Pay still reads as the clearest argument any rapper has made about pricing.
Timbaland's Fourteen Months That Rewired R&B — Aaliyah in August 1996, Ginuwine in October 1996, Missy in July 1997. Three albums, one producer from Norfolk, and a rhythm nobody on radio had heard before.
Chicago Ran the Arcade, Quarter by Quarter — Mortal Kombat landed October 8, 1992, and NBA Jam followed. Midway's Chicago shop built the two loudest games in America on a business model that paid in coins.
The Travis SB Dunk Reset the Whole Market — A $150 skate shoe with a tearaway upper became the most expensive general-line Dunk ever made, and dragged the entire SB program back into the mainstream.
Chipmunk Soul: The Blueprint's Sample Ledger — Kanye and Just Blaze sped up Bobby Bland, the Jackson 5 and Bobby Byrd and built Roc-A-Fella's sound in two weeks. Every one of those records had an owner.
The Lane — positioning essay — Why Sneakz & Beatz exists and where it sits.

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