Nike Air Jordans are the most coveted athletic shoes on the planet.
How about Air Jordan sneakers that were worn by Michael Jordan in the NBA Finals of his “Last Dance” season?
Well, those have been very, very coveted, and they sold for a record-breaking price on Tuesday.
Sotheby’s announced on Tuesday that “Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals Game 2 Air Jordan 13s from the famous ‘The Last Dance’ season sold for $2.2 million, setting a new world record for the most valuable sneakers ever sold.”
Another historic day at #SothebysNewYork! Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals Game 2 Air Jordan 13s from the famous ‘The Last Dance’ season sold for $2.2 million, setting a new world record for the most valuable sneakers ever sold. pic.twitter.com/myK5uWZVBE
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) April 11, 2023
Michael Jordan's game-worn Jordan 13s from Game 2 of the 1998 Finals, "The Last Dance" season, sold today for $2.2 million at a Sotheby's New York auction 🤩 pic.twitter.com/c5TVvJ1OIK
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) April 11, 2023
Specifically, the sneakers sold for $2,238,000.
In Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals, Jordan scored 37 points to lead the Bulls to a 93-88 victory. Chicago went on to win the series in six games, making for their sixth NBA championship- all in the Jordan era.
According to ESPN, “The previous record for a pair of sneakers — and the first to sell for more than $1 million at auction — belonged to a pair of Nike Air Ships that are the earliest known pair to be worn by Jordan in a regular-season game. Those sold at auction for $1.472 million at Sotheby’s in 2021.”
ESPN adds that, according to Sotheby’s, “Jordan gifted these sneakers to a Jazz ball boy who’d found Jordan’s previously lost jacket.”
The record-breaking price comes less than a week after the movie Air premiered in theaters.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.