Update: These Jordans sold during the weekend of November 18th, 2017 for $55,000.
A little known piece of Air Jordan 1 history is up for auction, with this insanely rare edition of the shoe made custom for Michael Jordan after coming back from his foot injury suffered during his second year in the league. In the original Chicago colorway, the shoe was modified by the team at Nike to offer more support for his ankle with a series of straps cut into the shoe (rather crudely by today’s standards) that attached to a leather and velcro strap inside to offer more support for his fragile left foot.
After playing only 18 games during the 1985-86 regular season because of the injury, Jordan returned to action during the Playoffs, where he famously dropped 63 points on Larry Bird and the Celtics during the first round of their Eastern Conference match up. According to photo evidence, Jordan wore this modified Air Jordan 1 for only one game, on March 21, 1986, before ditching them for a normal pair. This pair up for auction by Heritage Auctions, at an opening bid of $5,000 and up for the next 30 days, is one of only two pairs of the modified Air Jordan 1 known to still exist.