Before the Bulls and Jazz played Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, Truman was stationed back in Chicago's locker room, where Jordan was battling the flu. He was hooked up to IVs before the game and struggling. Truman, then 18, had the task of getting Jordan apple sauce.
Truman and other ball boys carried on a ritual of discreetly seeking memorabilia, a common occurrence with players in exchange for favors. The chance to get a shoe from Jordan was something he contemplated.
"He's just sick as can be," Truman recalled of that game on the Mully & Haugh Show on Friday morning. "The doctors are coming in and out, he's got IVs in, just trying to get him fluids because he's so despondent. The lights off back there and I'm helping him fill out his ticket will call to pick up tickets for friends and family. It was just me and him back there getting it done. When we got finished, I kind of had an inkling to like turn around and ask him for his shoes.
"'Hey, M.J. Are you doing anything with your shoes after the game?' Just scared to death to what his answer would be. He kind of just smiled a little, like, 'No, you want them?'"
Jordan produced one of the most memorable performances of his career that evening, dropping 38 points with the flu in the Bulls' 90-88 win over the Jazz that gave Chicago a 3-2 series lead. Truman watched in awe as the man he saw struggling before the game put forth a gutsy effort.
After the game, Truman saw Jordan hooked up to an IV again as he recovered alongside team doctors.
The Bulls packed their visiting locker room in Utah and prepared to travel back to Chicago with Jordan's shoes still sitting next to his locker. A team equipment manager grabbed the shoes and was about to store them away when Jordan stopped him.
Jordan told the staffer to give Truman those shoes.
"For him to leave those for me in that moment was just incredible, because there were so many people that would've wanted them," Truman said.
"It's just unbelievable."
Truman savored those shoes as a keepsake but soon realized the value. Three years later, a man showed up and offered him $11,000 for the shoes. Truman, then 21, declined and placed them in a safety deposit box.
Years later, Truman sought a new home for those shoes sitting in that safety deposit box and wanted to share his stories of Jordan. He realized a sale of those Jordan shoes would allow him to do so.
Truman was told by an auctioneer that he could receive near $40,000 for the shoes. The bidding went much higher.
"Yeah, it was $104,000," Truman said. "An insane amount of money."