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Preston Truman, a former Utah Jazz ball boy, thought he was in for a large payday on a pair of shoes Kobe Bryant wore during his rookie-season NBA playoff appearances.
In May 2023, Truman consigned the shoes through Heritage Auctions — the largest collectibles auctioneer and the third-largest auction house in the world, according to its website — and they were put up for auction.
The expected payout, according to Heritage? At least $300,000.
Months later, though, following an ownership dispute, the shoes only fetched $99,000, according to auction records.
Now Truman is suing the man he believes was behind that dispute.
Truman filed a lawsuit in Utah’s 3rd District Court on Aug. 12 against Jason Silverstein and his company, GWC Holdings LLC, alleging Silverstein falsely claimed an ownership interest in the shoes and that the claim disrupted the auction and depressed the shoes’ eventual sale price.
This isn’t the first time Truman and GWC Holdings have been involved in a lawsuit about a piece of sports memorabilia that Truman collected when he was a Jazz ball boy in the late 1990s.
More on that later; first, the Kobe Bryant rookie playoff shoes.
The Kobe shoes dispute
According to the lawsuit filed last week, Silverstein purchased a 30% share of the Truman-owned shoes through Collectable, a platform that allows investors to buy fractional interests in sports memorabilia.
In March 2023, the suit states that Silverstein exercised a buyout provision and Truman paid him $30,000 for his share, leaving Truman with “full, documented, and unencumbered title” to the shoes.
But in August 2023, just days before the Heritage auction was scheduled to close, Heritage received a letter claiming that an unknown party held an ownership stake in the shoes, the suit says.
Truman alleges Silverstein was behind the letter.
According to the lawsuit, Heritage subsequently placed a hold on the sale, forcing Truman to spend “weeks” assembling proof he was the sole owner of the shoes. The auction eventually went forward, but Truman alleges the dispute cast doubt over the title and scared off potential bidders.
More than 400 people watched the shoes on Heritage’s auction platform, but only three bidders participated, according to the lawsuit. The shoes sold for $99,000, with Truman receiving $82,500 after commission, the suit states.
Truman alleges Silverstein sent the demand letter because Silverstein believed he could get more money for the shoes and because the ownership claim “would intimidate and disrupt” the auction process.
He also alleges Silverstein had another motive: Truman was involved in “litigation adverse to Silverstein’s” interests, and Silverstein knew Truman had recently lost his job and lacked “comparable financial resources.”
The lawsuit alleges Silverstein’s conduct was “willful and malicious” and “manifested a knowing and reckless indifference” toward Truman.
The Jordan shoes backstory
The newest allegations take on added significance because Truman and GWC Holdings are already in a separate legal fight involving another piece of memorabilia Truman received as a Jazz ball boy: a pair of Michael Jordan shoes that ultimately sold for more than $2 million.
Truman, who worked as a Jazz ball boy from 1996 to 2000, received the shoes directly from Jordan after Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals.
In 2020, Truman sold the Air Jordan XIII “Breds” for $215,000 in a transaction brokered by Michael Russek and Grey Flannel Auctions.
Three years later, Truman sued Russek and Grey Flannel, among others, alleging he was coerced into selling the shoes for “an unconscionably low value” through high-pressure sales tactics, fraudulent misrepresentation, coercion and implied threats.
The Jordan shoes were eventually sold at auction for $2.238 million, including fees, in April 2023.
A Utah judge ultimately sided against Truman and ordered him to pay for the legal fees associated with the case. Truman has appealed that decision.
So where does GWC fit into the Jordan shoes saga?
Well, in August 2022, the original buyer transferred ownership of the Air Jordans to GWC Holdings, according to a lawsuit filed by GWC against Truman in June 2023.
GWC then consigned the shoes to Sotheby’s, which put them up for auction.
Before that auction, though, Truman’s attorney sent Sotheby’s a letter saying ownership of the shoes “is under dispute” and demanding that the auction be stopped, according to the GWC lawsuit. Truman later agreed to allow the auction to proceed as long as Sotheby’s held the proceeds in escrow.
GWC sued Truman, seeking a court declaration that the original 2020 buyer had received good title to the shoes and, therefore, GWC had proper ownership rights and was entitled to the auction proceeds.
The suit is still ongoing.
Which brings us back to the latest Kobe shoes lawsuit.
Truman’s latest complaint explicitly points to his other litigation with GWC as part of the alleged motivation for the Kobe dispute. He alleges that Silverstein knew the ownership claim could disrupt the auction, knew Truman was in a financially vulnerable position and used the dispute to his advantage.
Truman is seeking at least $200,000 in compensatory damages, along with punitive damages, restitution, attorney fees and other relief.
