Early Michael Jordan Game Shoes on eBay

A pair of game-worn Air Jordan 1 shoes from his second NBA season have hit eBay.  Valuable enough if they were an ordinary pair of kicks, these carry an interesting story.

The shoes, offered by Vivid Vintage, a high-end seller of old school memorabilia, are outfitted with a strap and custom orthotics.  Jordan, you may remember, missed most of the 1985-86 season after breaking a foot.  The injury turned out to be more serious that initially thought.

Jordan missed most of Chicago’s’ 82 games that year, returning to play enough to help push the Bulls into the playoffs.  According to the listing, Nike, which had invested heavily in Jordan after his rookie season, customized a size 13 right shoe and size 13.5 left shoe to give Jordan the necessary support.  He used the shoes for a small number of games before switching to a more customary pair.

The auction has created quite a buzz in the large community of Air Jordan shoe fanatics, even though the asking price is a bit steep–$24,999 (or best offer).

Jordan felt pretty good about a month after he returned to the lineup.  On April 20, 1986, he torched the Celtics for 63 points in a double overtime loss during the playoffs.

Where those Air Jordan 1s have been since 1986 isn’t revealed in the listing, but assuming they’re real (and no one has disputed it so far), they’re Hall of Fame worthy.

See the auction here.

About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for over 35 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected]