Michael Jordan’s 1998 Finals Sneakers Fetched $2.2m in 2023

A pair of black-and-red Air Jordan 13s worn by Michael Jordan during the 1998 NBA Finals sold for $2.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York on April 11, 2023, CNN reported. The sale set a sneaker auction record at the time, overtaking the $1.47 million paid in 2021 for Nike Air Ships worn earlier in Jordan’s career.

The shoes were associated with a pivotal Chicago Bulls victory: Jordan wore them in Game 2 against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City, scoring 37 points as Chicago won 93–88 to recover from its opening-game defeat. The Bulls went on to win the six-game series, securing Jordan’s sixth and final NBA championship.

Signed shoes from Jordan’s final Bulls championship

According to Sotheby’s, Jordan signed the sneakers after Game 2 and gave them to a ball boy in the visiting team’s locker room. The auction house also described them as the final black-and-red Air Jordan 13s he wore in an NBA game.

Their appeal was tied to Jordan’s last season with Chicago, later chronicled in the documentary “The Last Dance.” Although he subsequently played for the Washington Wizards from 2001 to 2003, he did not win another championship.

The sneaker sale followed another major auction result from that championship campaign. Jordan’s Game 1 jersey from the 1998 Finals fetched $10.1 million at Sotheby’s in 2022, setting what was then the auction record for game-worn sports memorabilia.

Other memorabilia in the sale

The sneakers headlined Sotheby’s two-part “Victoriam” sports memorabilia auction, which also included items associated with Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant and Roger Federer. A separate game-worn 1998 Bulls jersey belonging to Jordan sold for $508,000, while a pair of his 1985 Air Jordan 1s fetched $127,000.

Among the other leading lots, a Bryant Los Angeles Lakers shooting shirt sold for more than $406,000. A jersey worn by Pelé for his New York Cosmos debut in 1975 brought more than $177,000.