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Michael Jordan's NBA Finals Sneakers Sold For Record $8 Million At Sotheby’s Auction

The collection called The Dynasty Collection includes six sneakers which were worn by Jordan during his six NBA championship wins with the Chicago Bulls.
PUBLISHED FEB 5, 2024
Sotheby’s Dubai unveils Michael Jordan’s Six NBA Championship Sneakers | Getty Images | Photo by Cedric Ribeiro
Sotheby’s Dubai unveils Michael Jordan’s Six NBA Championship Sneakers | Getty Images | Photo by Cedric Ribeiro

Basketball and Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan’s set of six NBA Finals sneakers sold for a record $8 million at a Sotheby’s auction on February 2. The collection called The Dynasty Collection includes six individual sneakers which were worn by Jordan during his six NBA championship wins with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.



 

The Dynasty Collection was auctioned off for $8,032,800, setting a new record for game-worn shoes, according to Sotheby’s. It included six shoes, Air Jordan VI (1991), Air Jordan VII (1992), Air Jordan VIII (1993), Air Jordan XI (1996), Air Jordan XII (1997), and Air Jordan XIV (1998), which were all worn during the six finals wins.

Sotheby’s Dubai unveils exceptional highlights from its worldwide auctions and private sale offering, led by Michael Jordan’s Six NBA Championship Sneakers. Comprising 1 Air Jordan from each of Michael Jordan’s NBA Finals games, the unique collection is considered to be the ‘holy grail’ of sneaker collecting – it also marks the first time an auction house has travelled sneakers to the Middle East. Also, on view in the exhibition at the DIFC are exceptional jewels and watches, with rare timepieces by Patek Philippe and Rolex, and jewellery by Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier. As well as modern and contemporary paintings from the Middle East, by artists such as Fahrelnissa Zeid and Hassan Hajjaj, as well as rare, historic objects and Qur’ans from the Islamic world, led by a 16th century manuscript valued at £6 million. The exhibition is open to the public in Dubai until 3 March, coinciding with the Art Dubai fair. (Photo by Cedric Ribeiro/Getty Images for Sotheby's)
The Dynasty Collection displayed at a Sotheby's exhibition in Dubai | Getty Images | Photo by Cedric Ribeiro

Notably, only one of each pair was sold, and Jordan won the NBA Finals MVP title each of those six years. Sotheby’s had initially estimated the collection’s value to be between $7 million and $10 million. As per Sotheby’s, the buyer bought the entire collection at its New York City location for a record-breaking price. “This set represents the most valuable and significant collection of Air Jordan sneakers ever brought to market,” the auction house said on its website ahead of the auction.

The Dynasty Collection was created because of the foresight of the former Chicago Bulls public relations director Tim Halland. He had asked Jordan for a game-worn Air Jordan trainers after the 1991 NBA Finals if the Bulls won the series. Jordan did so and due to superstition, he continued to give a pair of his game-worn shoes throughout the duration of the Bulls dynasty. Jordan signed and inscribed the shoes before gifting them to Halland. The auction house, Sotheby’s obtained the sneakers from a Private American Collector that had obtained them from Halland.

The Dynasty Collection displayed at a Sotheby's exhibition in Dubai | Getty Images | Photo by Cedric Ribeiro
The Dynasty Collection displayed at a Sotheby's exhibition in Dubai | Getty Images | Photo by Cedric Ribeiro

Michael Jordan is a 14-time All-Star, and he won six NBA Finals MVP trophies, five NBA MVP awards, and two Olympic gold medals. His legacy and play were so great that the then NBA Commissioner David Stern in 1992 called him "the standard by which basketball excellence is measured," as per CBS news. In 2022, the NBA renamed its MVP trophy after him.

Jordan earned the nickname Air Jordan because of his incredible leaping ability and acrobatic maneuvers on the court. Out of the court, Jordan also supercharged the sneaker shoe culture. His iconic partnership with Nike which started in the mid-1980s continues to set records in the industry. The Air Jordan line of Nike has been coveted by sneakerheads ever since the ex-Bulls star wore them in his rookie year. The shoes are a hot commodity in the resale market even today.



 

In April 2023, Jordan’s pair of shoes which he wore in the second game of the 1998 NBA Finals sold for $2.2 million, a record for a pair of sneakers. However, the highest auction price for any Jordan memorabilia was $10.1 million for his jersey 2022 from the first game of that series, per Sotheby's.

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