Legendary American basketball player Michael Jordan’s shoes sold at Sotheby’s for a shoe-record $2.2 million. reported on the auction house’s website.
The record result “proves once again that demand for Michael Jordan’s personal items continues to exceed all expectations,” said Bram Wachter, head of streetwear and contemporary collectibles at Sotheby’s.
This is the Air Jordan XIII that Jordan wore to the Chicago Bulls in 1997-98. In this pair of shoes, the basketball player scored 37 points in Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals, which ended in a 93-88 victory for the Chicago Bulls over the Utah Jazz.
The 1997/98 season is known in Jordan’s career as “The Last Dance”: it was the basketball player’s last year with the Chicago Bulls. Then Jordan won his sixth and final NBA title.
After defeating the Utah Jazz, Jordan signed each shoe with a silver marker and gave it to a ball boy in the locker room as a thank you for finding the athlete’s lost jacket. The shoes are in “impeccable condition”, according to Sotheby’s.
It was the only authenticated pair of shoes Jordan wore to the NBA Finals, the auction house said.
Before the auction, Sotheby’s valued Jordan’s sneakers at between two and four million dollars. The previous record for basketball shoes was $1.47 million for a pair of Nike Air Ships sold at auction in 2021. In 2022, the jersey Jordan wore in the 1998 NBA Finals went under the hammer for $10.1 million.
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