This was published 3 years ago
Michael Jordan’s game-worn sneakers sell for almost $2 million at auction
By Matt Bonesteel
A pair of sneakers worn by Michael Jordan during a game - but not Air Jordans - have sold at auction for $US1.47 million ($1.96 million), shattering the record for game-used footwear.
The Chicago Bulls legend wore the shoes during a November 1, 1984 game against the Denver Nuggets. That’s the earliest NBA game in his career (his fifth) to produce game-worn sneakers available on the market, which also predated the launch of his Air Jordan brand with Nike. Photos from the era suggest he may have worn them even earlier than that.
Michael Jordan and the trainers he wore in his fifth NBA game.
The sneakers - also autographed by Jordan - were auctioned off by Sotheby’s for TJ Lewis, who was a Nuggets ballboy. The winning bid was submitted by Nick Fiorella, a sports-card collector who in March paid $4.6 million for a one-off, signed Luka Doncic rookie card, reportedly the highest price ever paid for a basketball card and the second-highest price paid for a sports card, behind a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card that sold for $5.2 million in January.
Nike had signed Jordan to a sponsorship deal that would give him a line of basketball sneakers, but the first run of Air Jordans was not yet ready when his rookie season began in 1984. In the meantime, Nike provided Jordan with Air Ships, which became the first sneakers Jordan wore as a professional.
The shoes caused some controversy and gave Nike a valuable piece of publicity when - after Jordan had worn the black and red Air Ships in a preseason game - the NBA told Nike that the sneakers with that specific colour scheme violated the league’s uniformity of uniform clause. Nike created an Air Jordan 1 ad campaign around the NBA’s edict, saying “the NBA threw them out of the game. Fortunately, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them.”
A pair of Air Jordan 1s worn by Jordan during a 1985 exhibition game in Italy - he shattered the backboard on a dunk, and the sneakers still had a shard of glass embedded in the sole of the left shoe - held the previous record for game-worn sneakers, selling for $615,000 at a Christie’s auction in August 2020.
Washington Post, with Reuters
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