Nike Is Restocking These Legendary Air Jordans

We're in 1998 and the Chicago Bulls are playing in the NBA Finals. In this team, there are numerous legendary players such as Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Bill Wennington, Toni Kukoc, Luc Longley, and many others. But of course, there's also Michael Jordan running in his Air Jordans, considered today as one of the greatest players of all time if not the greatest for a lot of people. The debate for the GOAT between him and LeBron James and still up and might forever continue.

During this year, which had the privilege to have been covered recently through the documentary called 'The Last Dance' by ESPN, Michael Jordan was wearing new sneakers as usual, and it was the Air Jordan 13. This sneaker is one of the most famous because it is the one from The Last Dance season, but also the one that has been the most inspired by Michael Jordan's personality. But if he was playing with the OG colorway during the whole season, it wasn't the case for the Playoffs, where he rocked the last and most legendary Air Jordan 13, named 'Playoffs', as simple as that.

In 1998, nobody believed that the Bulls would have won the NBA Finals because of the context and the content of their season. At the end of the year, everybody knew the team was splitting and a new coach would come. That's why the mood wasn't the best for the team. But it never stopped Michael Jordan from wanting to win.

That's why he led his teammates to the NBA Finals one more time, in an attempt to win a third title in a row, and also to leave the NBA with six rings on his fingers. Even though they lost many more games than last season during this one, they ended up being first of the East conference so the confidence was still there even though the newspapers didn't believe in it. And on the first game of the Playoffs against the Nets, Michael Jordan walked onto the court with a new black pair of sneakers, the shoes that led him to the NBA Finals one last time, the Air Jordan 13 Playoffs.

For these sneakers, the famous designer Tinker Hatfield was inspired by Michael Jordan playing on court. He compared him to a panther in his mind because Michael Jordan was always looking at his opponent in the eyes before dribbling like the animal would look at its prey. Tinker Hatfield also said he played a lot with his instinct and that's the reason why there's a green bubble on the top of the sneaker, it's supposed to be the eye of a panther, as well as the shape that is supposed to remember the animal.

But what's even funnier about this, is that Michael Jordan's nickname with his friends and family was "The Black Cat" and Tinker Hatfield didn't know that when he created the sneaker. And when Michael Jordan found out that it was also the name of his new sneaker, he fell in love with it, and that might also be the reason why the Air Jordan 13 Playoffs is in all black colorway. It's because he believed it was the last sneaker for the Black Cat to wear in order to win his last NBA title. But in the end, it wasn't the case.

Michael Jordan was supposed to wear the Air Jordan 13 Playoffs until the end of the playoffs, that's the agreement he had with Tinker Hatfield at the beginning of the tournament. But if you know Michael Jordan, you also know that he doesn't really listen to a lot of people, even his legendary designer and friend Tinker Hatfield.

When Michael Jordan found out Tinker Hatfield has made a new sneaker, the Air Jordan 14, inspired by his passion for sports cars like Ferrari, he couldn't resist wearing them for the last three games of the NBA Finals. And that's with the Air Jordan 14 that he will accomplish 'The Last Shot', the shot that made the Bulls win against the Utah Jazz at the last moment in the game. This shot made the shoe legendary, despite everything he has accomplished with the Air Jordan 13 before.

However, everybody remembers more the Air Jordan 13 than 14. First of all, because of its design which is much more iconic, and second of all, because it is the real sneaker that accompanied Michael Jordan to the NBA Finals, through the whole season. And in the end, people remember more the journey than the result.