Basketball shoes… you just have to love them because of what they do for your game of dribbling, passing, and shooting the ball in the opponent’s ring. These kinds of footwear not only provides style, a sense of fashion, and comfort, more importantly, it improves gaming performance due to the lightness of the materials used, the softness of the inner soles, the extra bounce it provides for the jump, and the soles that minimize slipping through grip rubber. Because of these features, including the players involved in the production or advertising of the shoes, the price just escalates big time. However, there is more to what is usually paid in online shops as the top 10 most expensive basketball shoes is nothing that you can find in cyberspace. Check this list and drop your wallets with the costliest pairs that you will see here.

Using the name of this footwear would make you remember the plane that carries the President of the United States of America, Air Force One. With Nike producing this line, it’s basketball shoes that are worth being worn by the rich and famous, and even those who belong to royalty. The conventional types of these shoes are sold at $100 less these days, but the January 2005 release of the special black and red metallic edition, which were only 523 pairs being sold through auctions or rare market selling, costs to as much as $2500 per pair.

Perhaps you may have never heard of this pair because it has only been created for the selected attendees of ESPN’s party, where the said pairs were launched in June of 2004. LeBron James was one of the owners of the 12 pairs that have been exclusively made for noted guests and visitors. The market valuation of this pair is as expensive as $2500 each.

The original pairs of the white Air Jordan XI was released in June 1995, which was inspired with the creation of his hit basketball movie with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes crew in Space Jam. The white, black, and blue colorway labeled the pairs as “Space Jams” were only produced for seven pairs. The rarity of these shoes has made it receive a market valuation price of over $2700, as noted by Nike.

More famously known as the Crazy 8, with Adidas changing the name of the shoes from KB8, Kobe Bryant can be remembered wearing this piece as his first Adidas pair sported in NBA. Launched back in February of 1998, Kobe wore this pair as a production test, but it did not go well in the process, which made the standard selling of the Crazy 8s an astounding success. If this pair would have been sold in the market, perhaps it has been prized at a staggering $3000 per pair.

Perhaps one of the most revolutionary pairs of Jordans being used is the Air Jordan III because this was the first pair that used the “Nike Air” logo, which was later changed to the Jumpman logo, with the word “Air” underneath it. Michael Jordan considered this pair as his favorite, even wearing this set in the 1988 Dunk Championship, the same year when the pairs were first produced. The white variation was sold even before the NBA Playoffs started that year, and only 1000 pairs have been sold, amounting each at an expensive $4500 price tag.

The dark red variation of the Air Jordan VI was seen in public and on TV when Jordan used the pair when he played in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, for the USA basketball team. It was already released in February 1991 and was only sold for 1500 pairs, with each authentic version costing to over $7200.

There is not much info about the first few pairs of Air Jordan I, only with the fact that Tinker Hatfield was the person responsible for the designing and creation of the beginning of basketball shoe history, having Michael Jordan on the helm. The variant was different, even having a red and white color, using a white metallic element on the strong linings. Market value of these 1200 pairs goes to over $8000 based on genuineness, originality, and style, having them produced in March 1985.

This pair may be labeled as one of the most unique during its generation. The Air Jordan V introduced some of the features that have never been included with the other models before it, such as a reflective tongue, clear soles, and the convenient strap lock feature. In February 1990, there was one pair that Jordan wore during the games he played, where a rare black and silver metal design with a 23 at the back was never sold in stores anywhere. According to shoe enthusiasts, this pair may have cost $10,000 if this was bought and made available for a few collectors.

Some would think of the Nike Air Mag as a mere set of props being used in Back to the Future 2, when Marty McFly went to 2015 and visited the said time. However, Nike did produce this pair in February 1989, and was only good for a short 20 pairs of exquisitely made materials that can be used for basketball games. However, do not expect to have the strap lock and the laces to do things automatically. Based on market valuation of this rare pair, it can cost up to $12,000, without even including the jacket but hand signed by Michael J. Fox, the same year when the movie was shown in cinemas.

Simply said, the very first pairs of Jordans can be taken as the most expensive, especially when it has been hand signed by his Royal Airness, Michael Jordan. There were only 12 pairs that he had signed personally with water-resistant marker pens and it had been sold or put on auction in different sites all over the net. Price evaluators for basketball shoes sees this treasure amounting to over $25,000 a pair, making it almost priceless.