The 12 Most Expensive Jordans Ever Sold: The Holy Grail of Sneakers

The backstory behind the Jordan 13 "Last Dance" sneakers is actually a very interesting one. Sure we're aware of the MJ's 98 Finals run in of itself— ending with Game 6 where Michael Jordan hit that legendary last game winner to secure his sixth and final championship, but there's some cool history behind the 13s he wore in Game 2.

After the game (which ended with the Chicago Bulls beating the Utah Jazz 93-98), Jordan apparently gifted the sneakers to a Jazz ball boy. How it got into the hands of Sotheby's 25 years later—we don't know. What we do know though, is that the "Last Dance" shoes sold for $2.2 million, making them the most expensive sneakers ever sold as of this writing.

Let's be very clear here—any Jordan 1 OG Chicago is going to require a bag drop. You can still grab some of the reproduced models on the secondary market, but it might run you almost 60 grand. As for the original game worn shoes—those sold for a whopping $615,000 in 2020. Guess somebody really wanted the sneakers MJ was wearing when he shattered the backboard.

Ah. The 1997 Flu Game—aka the food poisoning game. Whatever it you choose to classify it as, Jordan was clearly ill, but still managed to put on a sick performance for the history books. Also entering the history books are the kicks he wore that night, which were a red and black iteration of the AJ12s. The sneakers (which again were gifted to a Utah Jazz ball boy), were auctioned off for $104,000.

They recently resurfaced for auction through Goldin, with a current bid of $800,000 at the time of this writing.

What makes these Jordan 12 OVOs different from the regular degular ones that you can get on the secondary market? These were reportedly a pair that was actually in Drake's closet (hence the steep price). There's always somebody out there willing to pay a lot of money to personally own something that was in the possession of a celebrity, and these OVO 12s were no different.

Gifted to Jordan by his wife for his 32nd birthday celebration, if you have this shoe in your possession, you quite literally have a piece of history with you as only several of the "Solid Silver" Jordan 1s were made. These weren't worn during a game. In fact, we're not 100% sure they were ever actually worn by Jordan as the shoes seem to be more of a collectors item—one of those things you put in a case and make sure nobody gets near.

Eminem and the Jordan Brand have linked up on a few occasions, most notably for the Air Jordan "Encore," which was released to coincide with Eminem's album of the same name. Years later, the shoes would see a release via a Sothebys auction, with the final bid being $56,700.

Once upon a time, Spike Lee wore a pair of custom-made Jordan 3s at the 2019 Academy Awards, sending sneaker twitter into a frenzy. As you can imagine, very few replicas of these have been made, with one pair going for $47,880 once again through Sothebys.

We don't hear as much riff raff when it comes to Jordan 2s as opposed to the other members of the Jordan family, but make no mistake, the AJ2s have their place secured in expensive Jordan history as well. Debuting in the fall of 1986, the original Air Jordan 2 "Retro Chicago" sold via ebay for $31,000.

Originally released in 2003, the resell value of the "Black and Gold" became insane at one point, eventually reaching a total of $25k. This amount puts the "Black and Gold" AJ1s among the elite in the category of expensive Jordans.