Pair Of Michael Jordan’s Sneakers Shatter Record After Hitting The Auction Block

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The sale of sports memorabilia has become an incredibly lucrative industry in recent years, and it’s hard to think of many items out there with the ability to generate more buzz than those associated with Michael Jordan.

People have shelled out an insane amount of cash for a baseball His Airness signed as a teenager and a pair of “heavily used” boxers he wore during games, but those sums have nothing on what some more traditional pieces of apparel have fetched after hitting the auction block.

When you consider the history and mystique surrounding M.J.’s signature line of sneakers inspired a movie that hit theaters this year, it should come as no surprise pairs of his game-worn kicks have sold for some truly staggering sums—including the Air Jordan 1s that went for $560,000 and another pair from his rookie season that traded hands for more than $1.4 million.

Prior to this week, another notable name with ties to the city of Chicago could be linked to the most expensive pair of sneakers ever sold: Kanye West, as a pair of Yeezy prototypes Nike produced for the 2008 Grammys were auctioned off for $1.8 million in 2021 (although you have to imagine whoever scooped them up has a serious case of buyer’s remorse based on what’s unfolded since then).

However, Jordan was recently able to take that particular crown thanks to what unfolded after the Air Jordans he rocked during his last appearance in the NBA Finals (a.k.a. “The Last Dance”) were put up for sale at Sotheby’s.

Jordan rocked those kicks during the second half of Game 2 of the Finals before signing them and giving them to a ballboy working for the Utah Jazz.

It’s not entirely clear who owned the shoes at the time they were put up for auction earlier this month, but they definitely reaped the benefits when you consider the sneakers sold for a whopping $2.2 million when everything was said and done.

Your move, LeBron.