We're counting down the greatest basketball sneakers in NBA history. Our #NBArank panel of sneakerheads rated dozens of shoes. The result is our Top 30 list. Today, we unveil No. 3
All-Time Kicks
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-30 | Honorable mentions
Air Jordan I
Year of release
1985
Players who wore 'em
Michael Jordan
Classic ad
"Fortunately, the NBA can't stop you from wearing them."
The sneaker
The original is still one of the best -- just not the best anymore, at least according to our expert panel. Still, the importance of this shoe can't be denied. There were signature shoes before this one (The Puma Clyde, the Adidas Stan Smith), but no sneaker turned signature shoes into big business like the Air Jordan I did. Getting "banned" by the NBA was the best thing that could have happened, not only for this pair but also for sneakers in general. -- Adam Reisinger
No. 2 | Full list | No. 4
If you want to get involved in the discussion or follow along, #NBArank is the Twitter hashtag to use. You also can follow along with @ESPNNBA as we count down the 30 best kicks ever.