Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals Air Jordans Already Have a Record-Breaking $1.8 Million Bid
If you expected an especially famous pair of Michael Jordan’s sneakers to shatter auction records, it looks like you may be right.
Garnering a bid of $1.8 million, the basketball legend’s iconic Bred Air Jordans kicks, which he wore during his last championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1998, are poised to break the record for the most expensive shoes sold at auction. That title is currently held (unsurprisingly) by another pair of Jordan’s shoes: his Nike Air Ships, which sold for $1.47 million from Sotheby’s Las Vegas in 2021. With this latest bid, though, the Bred shoes have toppled that price in one fell swoop—in just two days since the auction began.
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Up for grabs via Sotheby’s, this black-and-red pair are certainly special, since Jordan rocked them in Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals, when he famously scored 37 points and brought the Bulls to victory over the Utah Jazz. The auction house reports that these are the only complete pair of sneakers worn by Jordan during an NBA Finals game to be authenticated, making them a particularly rare find.
Adding to the shoes’ notoriety is Netflix’s The Last Dance docuseries, released in 2020, that chronicled Jordan’s legendary rise in the NBA and specifically highlighted the 1997-1998 season during which these Air Jordans were worn. Bidding opened for the rare kicks on April 3, and it only took a few hours for offers to climb to $1.8 million.
And the shoes could very well soar beyond the current number, with estimates suggesting the price could rise as high as $4 million before bidding closes on April 11. With Ben Affleck’s Air, a movie about the invention of the Air Jordan and the beginning of Jordan’s collaboration with Nike, coming out this week, there’s never been a better moment to put a rare and historic set of Air Jordans on the market—and the bids so far reflect just how valuable these shoes have become.
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