Decades after he retired from basketball, Michael Jordan still manages to stay as relevant as ever. After all, basketball fans expect nothing less from a living sports legend.
This time, though, his name is back in the headlines because of a new Netflix documentary series, ‘The Last Dance,’ chronicling his career with a focus on his time with the Chicago Bulls in the late ‘90s.
Riding on the exposure brought on by this and the 35th anniversary of the first-ever Air Jordan sneakers, a pair of Jordan’s equally legendary shoes are being auctioned off. Let’s find out what makes these Jordans so special.
Calling All Bidders
The said shoes are the Nike Air Jordan 1S sneakers that were made especially for the NBA superstar during his early years playing for the Chicago Bulls. It is currently open to bidders and would be until the 17th of May on Sotheby’s website.
Pre-auction estimates say that the sneakers could fetch somewhere between $100,000 to $150,000. This proved to be a conservative estimate as there’s already a bid for $160,000 for it.
Being worn by His Airness himself alone would already make the pair a one-of-a-kind sports memorabilia. But there’s plenty more special about them than just that.
Unique Jordans
For starters, they were made by Nike in a mid-cut style at a time when the brand was typically releasing high- and low-cut shoes to the consumers. Sports fans would also notice that the famed Nike swooshes are leaner and longer on the exclusive Air Jordan 1S sneakers compared to those found in its public release version.
One more thing to note about the 1S sneakers is that the right and left shoe are mismatched and are different sizes. The left one is a size 13, while the other is slightly bigger at 13.5.
On the other hand, the pair is also notorious for being the one Jordan wore in a 1985 game where he broke his foot.
Coveted Pair
Despite that one last bit, Jordan Geller, a Nike collector who offered the Nike Air Jordan 1S sneakers for sale, is confident that shoe fanatics would want them. He even described it to be the most iconic pair of sneakers of all time.
That said, bids for the shoes may as well increase even more. After all, it isn’t unheard of for a pair of Nikes like the 1972 Nike ‘Moon Shoe’ did. The pair fetched a whopping $437,500.