Eight million dollars: Michael Jordan's basketball shoes auctioned for a record sum

SSix individual basketball shoes belonging to NBA legend Michael Jordan were auctioned off for eight million dollars (around 7.4 million euros). The auction house Sotheby's in New York said on Friday that this had set a global auction record for sports shoes worn during games. Such a price will “probably never be reached again”. The buyer remained anonymous.

Michael Jordan gave the six shoes – single shoes, not pairs – to communications manager Tim Hallam of his Chicago Bulls team after important games in the championship years between 1991 and 1993 and between 1996 and 1998. These are shoes from the Air Jordan VI, VII, VIII, XI, XII and XIV models.

Last April, a pair of Jordan basketball shoes sold at auction for $2.2 million. Sotheby's said at the time that they were “the most expensive sports shoes ever sold.” The sports star wore the black and red “Bred” Air Jordan XIII during the 1998 NBA Finals series, where he won his sixth and final championship with the Chicago Bulls.

Demand from collectors has driven up prices for sports memorabilia. In September 2022, a Chicago Bulls jersey with the famous number 23, also worn by Michael Jordan in the 1998 NBA Finals series, achieved an auction record for a sports jersey at $10.1 million. It replaced the previous record of the equivalent of $8.6 million, which was set in May 2022 by a jersey from Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona.