You Can Bid on Darko Milicic’s Championship Ring

The Detroit Pistons’ most infamous lottery pick is auctioning off the ring (and title belt!) he won back in 2004 for charity. From the Free Press: “Darko Milicic is auctioning the 2004 NBA championship ring he won with the Detroit Pistons to raise money and awareness for children dealing with the terminal illness Batten’s disease. Batten’s is a neurological disorder that affects mostly children and gradually causes blindness, seizures and death. Milicic is also auctioning off the championship belt that was given to him by Rasheed Wallace. ‘Whatever money (I raise) is going to be good because those treatments cost a lot and those people can’t afford it,’ Milicic said. Milicic became familiar with the condition after he and his wife read a newspaper story in his native Serbia about a family confronted with it. Out of the blue, he paid for four children to travel to China for stem cell treatments. The treatments cost $35,000 each. So Milicic is trying to raise more money until doctors come up with more affordable treatments in the United States and elsewhere. He got the idea from Ron Artest, who auctioned off his Lakers championship ring to raise money for mental health programs in schools.”