To some people, collecting sports memorabilia serves as a way to connect to the sporting events and athletes that they love so much. For some, it's collecting ticket stubs from games they've attended. For others, it's collecting sports cards. And for others, it's purchasing a pair of game-worn sneakers for over $30,000.
Last week, a pair of shoes worn by Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry sold for $30,101 on eBay, which is a record for the highest price paid for any player who is currently playing in the NBA. The shoes were worn during the Warriors' 103-90 win over the New York Knicks on Dec. 15, and were inscribed with the words "Oakland Strong." The sneakers, which are also autographed by the two-time NBA MVP, were worn in order to honor the 36 victims who died in a fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland last month.
The shoes that Curry wore while warming up for the game sold for $15,100 on eBay. The proceeds from both shoes will go to the Oakland Fire Relief fund. The fund raised $547,096 of a $550,000 goal before the auction for both shoes ended, an amount that was bolstered by $50,000 donations from the Warriors, Oakland Raiders, and Oakland Athletics.
(Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
The record price paid for a pair of shoes worn by a player that was active at the time of the sale was set in 2014, when a buyer paid $37,740 for a pair of shoes worn by Kobe Bryant during the 2008 Olympics. The previous record for the highest amount paid for a current NBA player was $28,651, when a pair of shoes worn by LeBron James sold for that amount in December of 2015.
While the amount of money Curry's shoes sold for is rather impressive, it is absolutely dwarfed by the record amount paid for a pair of game-worn NBA shoes. That honor goes to a pair of Air Jordan 12s worn by Michael Jordan himself during the famous "Flu Game" in the 1997 NBA Finals. That pair sold for a whopping $104,765!
