One of the legendary stories of Michael Jordan’s early career occurred on a summer day in Trieste, Italy.
Mike had just finished his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls in 1985, when he started a tour of Europe on behalf of Nike. Mike would eventually land in Italy and played an exhibition game with local teams Stefanel Trieste and Juve Caserta. He suited up with Trieste, rocking their orange and black jerseys. Late in the game, Michael drove hard to the hoop and threw down a vicious right-handed dunk. The momentum and force from MJ hanging on the the rim shattered the backboard, with shards of glass flying everywhere. The visual along with the grainy footage is a crazy moment in the basketball career of the GOAT.
The kicks that MJ brought back for this Knicks game was an original pair of the Air Jordan 1. The shoe is infamously known for being banned by the NBA for having too much red, which diverged from the typical black and white dress code. This would later be disproven as Jordan first wore the Nike Air Ship, although the Banned moniker stuck with the AJ1.
The red and white “Chicago” colorway that Mike wore can be found HERE.
The Jordan Brand eventually created orange AJ 1s dubbed the “Shattered Backboard” colorway. These shoes can be found HERE.
You can find other colors of the Air Jordan 1 at StockX, Eastbay, GOAT, Flight Club, Stadium Goods, and DicksSportingGoods.com.
