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Jordan's rookie sneakers expected to shatter auction record

Peter Read Miller / National Basketball Association / Getty

A pair of Nike Air Ships worn by Michael Jordan as a rookie with the Chicago Bulls is expected to fetch a record price at auction.

The red and white Air Ships are the earliest known regular-season Nikes worn by Jordan, according to Sotheby's, the auction house handling the sale.

It's estimated the shoes will sell for $1 million to $1.5 million, which would set a new world record for the most expensive sneakers sold at auction.

The current auction record for a pair of sneakers is $615,000, set in August 2020 by a pair Jordan's game-worn Air Jordan 1 High sneakers from 1985.

"Michael Jordan's items are perhaps the most coveted," Sotheby's head of streetwear and modern collectibles Brahm Wachter told CNBC. "We put up a lot of other valuable memorabilia items, but I would say on a kind of ongoing and continuous basis Michael Jordan's market is really strong."

Jordan wore the Air Ships in his fifth NBA game on Nov. 1, 1984, and gifted them to then-Denver Nuggets ball boy Tommie Tim III Lewis.

Advanced bidding on the sneakers opens Friday, with a live auction scheduled for Oct. 24 in Las Vegas.

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