The legend of the one who for many is the best basketball player of all time continues to grow. A pair of white leather sneakers worn by Michael Jordan at the start of his career sold for $ 1.47 million on Sunday at an auction organized by Sotheby’s in Las Vegas.
"The most precious sneakers ever to go up for auction, the 1984 Nike Air Ships worn by Michael Jordan during the regular season, just sold for $ 1,472,000 during our luxury sale in Las Vegas."the auction house stated in a statement posted on Twitter.
Jordan wore these sneakers, Nike model "Air Ship", in the 5th game of the NBA on November 1, 1984. They were the forerunners of the Air Jordan 1 model.
The "Air Ship", a model designed by Bruce Kilgore, they came out in 1984, and were the first shoes that Michael Jordan wore as an NBA professional.
In the preseason and in the first games of that first year as a rookie, Jordan wore the colors white and red, but also black and red (known as "Bred") that Nike designed especially for him and that were surrounded by controversy.
In size 13 in white leather with the brand’s logo in red and tied up to the ankle, in perfect condition despite use, they were a gift from the player to Tommie Tim III Lewis ‘TJ’ – their owner until now – and they were accompanied for a letter of authenticity and a credential from Lewis from the 1984-1985 season as a Denver Nuggets staff.
The previous record for a basketball legend’s shoe was set in August 2020 during an auction at Christie’s for a Nike Air Jordan 1 worn by the player in 1985, when he broke a basket during a game in a memorable episode. of the fans.
They sold for $ 615,000.
However, the sales record is held by a pair of Nike Air Yeeezy 1 sneakers belonging to rapper Kanye West that he wore during the 2008 Grammy Awards. They reached $ 1.8 million last April in a private sale also organized by Sotheby’s.
The last such pair belonging to Jordan was sold in May 2021 also at a Sotheby’s auction for $ 152,500.
Controversial
Jordan definitively retired from the courts in 2003 when he played for the Washington Wizards, having done so on two previous occasions, in 1993 and 1999, after having played 13 seasons for the Chicago Bulls.
In 1984, Nike gave Jordan an exclusive line of shoes and clothing, becoming the forerunner of these practices that have later been signed by renowned athletes.
The term "Air jordan" It was coined by the agenda of the player David Falk, who according to legend, defined them that way because Nike shoes had air in the soles and because Jordan seemed to fly when he played.
In his first NBA games, Jordan preferred sneakers with which he felt the court on his feet. In the process of creating the Air Jordan 1, Nike provided Jordan with a limited number of Air Ships, some of which had printed "Air jordan" or "Nike Air" on the soles. This pair, in which there is only the word "Air" it is practically unique.
The black and red Air Ships became controversial following a letter from the NBA to Nike following a league preseason game on October 18, 1984, in which it reported that the colorful sneakers violated the the uniformity of the league attire.
Nike took advantage of the controversy to launch an advertising campaign in which it said that although the NBA removed them from the game, fortunately, it could not ban "that you take them". These shoes left the exclusive realm of sport so that anyone could wear them on a day-to-day basis.
The white and red Air Ships are a reference in the history of sports and basketball in particular.
The player’s popularity only grew after the 2020 broadcast of a documentary about his life on Netflix.
The auction, held in Las Vegas, also sold a pair of Drake OVO Air Jordan 11 Gold sneakers, designed by Tinker Hatfield in 1995 for Jordan, for $ 20,160. These Gold sneakers were never made for sale, making them an object of desire for collectors.
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