A pair of Nikes that were the earliest NBA-worn shoes of Michael Jordan’s that have ever come to market have sold for $71,553.
A pair of Nikes that were the earliest NBA-worn shoes of Michael Jordan’s that have ever come to market have sold for $71,553.
That’s the second-highest price paid for game-worn Jordan shoes. In 2013, the shoes that Jordan wore during the “Flu Game” in the 1997 NBA Finals sold for $104,765.
Terry Melia, a spokesman for SCP Auctions, which sold the shoes, said the buyer wished to remain anonymous.
The shoes sold Saturday were called Air Ships and not Air Jordans.
In December 1984, Jordan had already signed a five-year, $2.5 million deal with Nike, but the Air Jordans weren’t ready to go on his feet for every game. So Jordan wore the Air Ships in three different colors before his signature shoe was finished.
The shoes were consigned to the auction house by Khalid Ali, who was a ball boy for the Los Angeles Lakers for the 1984-85 season. Ali originally asked Jordan for the shoes that were on his feet during warm-ups that night at the Great Western Forum — red, black and white Air Jordans. Jordan, Ali said, switched into the Air Ships for the game, signed those and gave that pair to him instead.
