Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen formed two ends of arguably the greatest duo in NBA history, as the pair won six NBA Championships for the Chicago Bulls during a 10-season tenure as teammates. The pair also represented Team USA together at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, bringing home the Gold medal as part of arguably the greatest basketball team ever put together.
While Jordan’s successes are always pedestalized over Pippen’s, nobody can dispute that Jordan wouldn’t have the success he did without Pippen by his side. Due to their professional relationship, Pippen owns a lot of really cool Jordan memorabilia from their time spent as teammates. One of these pieces, the shoes that Jordan wore in the Gold medal game of the 1992 Olympics, has recently been put up for auction by Pippen and could fetch nearly $2.5 million.
Auction house Sotheby’s will control the sale of the famous sneakers Jordan wore against Croatia to win the Gold medal. They shared a video on their social media featuring Pippen sharing facts about the shoes, like how he acquired them, and even what they smell like.
Reporter: “How did you end up with Michael Jordan’s Dream Team sneakers?”
Scottie Pippen: “We were just sitting in the locker room. Me, Michael, and Charles Barkley. We had just finished playing in the NBA Finals. I looked over and saw Michael’s shoes were lying around, and I asked, ‘What are you doing with those shoes?’ He just kind of gave me a look like, he’s gonna leave them there. So I was like, let me get them. I really wanted the jersey too, but Barkley beat me to it. He grabbed the jersey, and I grabbed the shoes, and that’s the story of the ’92 Dream Team.”
Reporter: “Did the sneakers really make him fly?”
Scottie Pippen: “After evaluating the shoes for a couple of years, I looked at the inseam. I really wanted to know what made Air Jordan fly? I saw something. Something about those insoles, they were pretty thick. A lot of cushion. I don’t know if it was for a soft landing or an easy takeoff. It’s pretty amazing.”
Reporter: “What do they smell like?”
Scottie Pippen: “They smell like a champion. We won the Gold medal.”
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Jordan scored 22 points while wearing these shoes against Croatia, becoming an Olympic hero in the process. He averaged 14.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 4.1 steals per game over the eight Olympic games he played, popularizing basketball in a way nobody had presumed possible before.
Pippen and other Team USA teammates have been similarly venerated, as a squad of 11 Hall of Famers (and one Christian Laettner) was re-inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010 as a team for their immeasurable impact on basketball.
Jordan’s shoes aren’t the only things going up for auction. Pippen has also shared multiple notable pieces from his own career, such as the red Chicago Bulls jersey Pippen wore in Games 1 and 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. These jerseys are valued between $250,000 and $300,000, boosted by their appearance on ‘The Last Dance.’ The lot also includes the jersey Pippen wore during Jordan’s infamous ‘Flu Game.’
In terms of Olympic memorabilia, Pippen’s 1992 Dream Team Olympic gold medal game jersey is included and expected to sell between $60,000 to $80,000. Another high-value item will be his 1992 Team USA medal ceremony jacket, valued at between $100,000 to $200,000.
Pippen averaged 9.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, 6.6 assists, and 3.6 steals per game in the 1992 Olympics. He would return to Team USA for their 1996 Gold Medal triumph as well, cementing himself as one of Team USA’s most iconic players ever.
