According to Reuters Media on Monday, a pair of shoes that Michael Jordan wore during his 1984-85 rookie season with the Chicago Bulls have been sold on an online auction run by the American company Sotheby’s for a whopping $560,000. The shoes are known as Air Jordan 1 and are autographed by Jordan, who won the National Basketball Association’s rookie of the year that season.
Part of the Nike brand, Jordan’s shoes went for over five times more than what was initially expected. Early projections only had the shoes being sold for $100,000.
The shoes were sold to Jordan Geller, who once ran the Shoezeum Museum in Las Vegas. Geller closed down the museum in 2012 as Nike did not like the fact that he was buying their shoes from outlet stores and then reselling them on eBay according to Sophia June of Willamette Week.
The popularity of Jordan is high at the moment. During the coronavirus shutdown, ESPN has been showing a 10-episode documentary of Jordan during his time with the Chicago Bulls. The series has been called “The Last Dance.”
In 1984-85, Jordan played in all 82 games for the Bulls, averaged 28.2 points per game, and led the NBA with 2313 points. He had 18 more points than Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, who was second with 2295 points. An all-star, Jordan also averaged 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 2.4 steals. He had a field goal percentage of .515, a three-point percentage of .173, and a free-throw percentage of .845.
What could be considered as a little surprising is that Jordan struggled mightily from beyond the arc during his rookie season with the Bulls. He only made nine of 52 attempts. Jordan would get better from three-point range as he finished his career with a three-point percentage of .327, but he was below .200 in each of his first four NBA seasons.
In 1984-85, Jordan also helped the Bulls make the playoffs. With a record of 38 wins and 44 losses, the Bulls reached the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, but lost three games to one to the Milwaukee Bucks.
