Michael Jordan’s rookie Nike Air Ship shoes expected to sell for US$1m at auction
- Gameworn 1984 Nike Air Ships go up for auction at Sotheby’s in Las Vegas on October 24
- Autographed pair, which predate Air Jordan 1s, were worn against Denver Nuggets on November 1, 1984
A pair of shoes worn NBA basketball legend Michael Jordan in his rookie season are expected to fetch a record price when they go up for auction at Sothebys later this month.
The Nike Air Ship trainers, which Jordan wore in his fifth game for the Chicago Bulls back in the 1984-85 season, are expected to be sold for between US$1 million and US$1.5 million, the auction house estimate.
Jordan wore the US size 13 shoes in a game against the Denver Nuggets on November 1, 1984. He autographed them and gave them to a Nuggets ball boy, current owner Tommie Tim Lewis III.
The Air Ships are the earliest known pair of Jordan’s gameworn regular season sneakers to go to auction. They will go up for live auction on October 24 in Las Vegas.
The record paid at auction for a pair of sneakers is US$615,000 in August last year at Christies. Those were Nike Air Jordan 1s that the six-time NBA champion wore in 1985. Last May Sothebys had sold a signed pair of Air Jordan 1s for US$560,000, a then record.
Both auctions followed on from the hit ESPN and Netflix series The Last Dance, which documented Jordan’s 1997-98 season at the Chicago Bulls.