Top 10 Air Jordan 14 Colorways Of All-Time

When it comes to moments, the Air Jordan 14 doesn’t have just any old Michael Jordan highlight that you can easily mash up with the hundreds that are permanently ingrained in your mind. The Air Jordan 14 has the moment: The Last Shot. It’s Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals and the Chicago Bulls are down by one point with possession of the ball thanks to a timely MJ steal from an unsuspecting mailman who never delivers on Sundays. With 20 seconds left, Jordan calmly brought the ball past half court and like he’s done so many times in the past, he passed the ball to Steve Kerr for the dagger he hit the go-ahead shot on poor Byron Russell. The Bulls go on to win their sixth NBA Championship and close out one of the most spectacular runs in league history.

And to think, that moment could have belonged to the Air Jordan 13 Bred or the Air Jordan 13 Playoffs, two sneakers that we just recently featured in our Top 10 Air Jordan 13s of All-Time List. Thankfully that wasn’t the case as MJ wore the 14s in spite of Tinker Hatfield’s request that he not wear the prototypes. Considering all of the main players from The Last Dance documentary felt that this era was all but wrapped up, MJ could be forgiven for defying orders. Well, either that or Jordan didn’t care what Tinker thought and just wore the 14s anyway because he’s Michael Jordan, the guy who just launched his own brand that’s being bankrolled by Nike.

And yet, in spite of The Last Shot and some of the most influential colorways in Jordan lore that actually started with the 14s, it’s a placeholder in many respects, the connective piece between the Jordans that prime MJ wore (1-13) and everything else. The 14s did not sell well out of the gate. MJ being retired probably had a lot to do with it, but the NBA season being delayed because of a lockout also contributed to fans feeling soured on hoops and by proxy, hooping shoes. In a cute way to juice sales of the product while also honoring MJ, Phil Knight actually had 14s sent to every Nike Basketball athlete at the time with a “request” that they wear them for their season openers.

Where the 14s never felt lesser than was in the sneaker community. Inspired by the Ferrari 550 M, the 14s were a dream for sneakerheads and car freaks to obsess over every little detail. Just like how the staff at Sole Retriever obsessed over what should make the top 10 Air Jordan 14s of all-time.

10. Air Jordan 14 Defining Moments (Last Shot)

Release Date: June 14, 2017

Discounting 2023’s Air Jordan 11 Gratitude - and most people have - the last proper “Defining Moments” sneaker dropped in 2017. Well, actually, it was a two-pack featuring the Air Jordan 13 and 14 Defining Moments that reference The Last Shot. Housed in a special box that features the play the Bulls used to make the moment happen (it’s a lot more intricate and detailed than “Michael on an ISO”), the 14s adopts an all-leather upper instead of the black and suede of the original and uses almost the exact same color blocking but with gold swapped in for red. Eight years later and a few lackluster packs later, it’ll be interesting what two pairs Jordan decides to use when they eventually revisit this theme and at what price.

9. Air Jordan 14 Indiglo

Retro Release Date: August 13, 2016

A surefire entry in many sneaker blogs’ “Jordans That Need To Come Back” posts during the early 2010s, sneakerheads got their wish in 2016 when the Indigo returned a little over 17 years after the original launched. Despite being a predominantly black sneaker save for the white tooling, the hits of green on the many Jumpman logos on the shoe made them stand out from most Air Jordans from the era when anything besides red and black and white was kind of weird. That little tweak allowed players like Mike Bibby of the then-Vancouver Grizzlies and Ron Mercer of the Boston Celtics to wear as part of the homage to MJ to begin the 1998-99 NBA season.

8. Air Jordan 14 Thunder

Release Date: July 4, 2014

The Air Jordan 4 Thunder resonates in the sneaker community in a way that non-OG colorways rarely get to do. Despite releasing twice within six years of each other in 2006 and 2012, the demand for Thunder 4s - quality issues notwithstanding - was strong. So someone at Jordan Brand probably thought “Why not bring the thunder to another Air Jordan with a ‘4’ on it?” And since nobody was going to buy the Air Jordan 2009 (aka the canonical Air Jordan 24), the 14 was the sensible choice. It turned out to be a hit for the brand as the yellow breathed some fresh vibes into the 14s as they became staples in high schools across the country.

7. Air Jordan 14 Laney Low

OG Release Date: June 23, 1999

Much like the Indiglo, the Varsity Royal Low 14s unlocked a new look for the Air Jordan line. At the time, low-top Jordans were made only for MJ player exclusives or anomalies that rarely dropped at retail. That began to change with the Air Jordan 11 IE but really started to pick up a few models later with the 14s. Releasing a year before the Air Jordan 5 that everybody would call the high school-inspired Laney colorway, the nickname struck retroactively and has been brought back a few times through the years as a retro and in a mid-cut.

6. Air Jordan 14 Ginger Low

OG Release Date: September 15, 1999

Continuing on the theme of 14s opening people to what could be possible with the Air Jordan line, the Ginger colorway looked more at home off the court than on it. The workboot-like finish gave the impression of a sneaker that could be worn for your 9-to-5 or on a light outing with the crew. Jordan Brand released a retro in 2022, but with the mid-cut that left fans of the OG a little cold. 26 years is a long time to wait for a proper retro, but the reward could be worth the delay if the brand nails the quality and availability.

5. Air Jordan 14 Columbia Low

OG Release Date: August 4, 1999

A perfect pair to match with your throwback Rasheed Wallace North Carolina jersey, the elusiveness of this pair is mysterious to say the least. While the Laney and Ginger have both received mid-cut retros through the years, the Columbia actually got its higher cut brother a few months later via a limited Eastbay release. Since then? Radio silence. You would think the North Carolina connection would make these a prime candidate for a retro every few years, but save for a black UNC colorway that dropped 20 years ago (and a rumored retro dropping next year), there hasn’t even been a peep of a retro for the white pair in low or mid-cut.

4. Air Jordan 14 Candy Cane

OG Release Date: January 9, 1999

Despite being the best of friends during this time, Charles Barkley was not about to start wearing Air Jordans out of love for his buddy Michael Jordan. Why? Because the one time Chuck played in the Air Jordan 12 Taxis as a tribute, he called them bricks. While this writer would disagree with Chuck’s assessment of one of the greatest Air Jordans of all-time, that wasn’t the only time Barkley hooped in Js. A few years later he would wear the Air Jordan 14 in the Candy Cane colorway as part of Phil Knight’s silent push to get everybody wearing them after MJ’s retirement. Another big name that wore the Candy Canes around that time was UConn shooting guard and future NCAA and NBA Champion Richard Hamilton. Seeing Rip in those Js no doubt helped his case in securing a Jordan deal a few years later.

3. Air Jordan 14 Black Toe

OG Release Date: October 31, 1998

Here’s some fun trivia: the Last Shot 14s are not the only Air Jordan 14s that Michael Jordan ever wore in a Chicago Bulls uniform. He also wore the debut Black Toe colorway for the opening shot of the IMAX movie “Michael Jordan to the Max.” Shot in bullet time, MJ did his best Neo from The Matrix impersonation as he performed a free-throw line dunk that was absolutely positively not digitally altered. Not that we are inferring MJ jumped on the line like he did during the 1988 Dunk Contest, but a post-retirement Jordan nailing that dunk without any camera trickery might be one of his lowkey greatest athletic achievements.

2. Air Jordan 14 Ferrari

OG Release Date: September 16, 2014

The greatest missed opportunity in sneaker marketing might be the inability to directly tie the Air Jordan 14 to the Ferrari brand. Could you imagine the 2014 release of the Ferrari 14s including an endorsement from former Ferrari driver and former Nike athlete Michael Schumacher while the 2025 retro features current Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton? No offense to Rubens Barichello and Charles Leclerc, but seeing Schumacher and Hamilton represent in the Ferrari 14s would have been epic. Nevertheless, the Ferrari 14s stand on their own with the stripped-down varsity red suede upper, carbon fiber shark teeth midsole and chrome shank plate that are a blatant homage to the iconic car and racing brand.

1. Air Jordan 14 Last Shot

OG Release Date: March 27, 1999

Without The Last Shot, what legacy does the Air Jordan 14 have? Does it get lumped in with the highly divisive Air Jordan 15 and the rest of the post-Bulls Js that a non-insignificant number of sneakerheads like to dismiss? Would it still be fondly remembered for the IMAX intro, the Ferrari connection, and the number of different styles and themes that would make their way to other retros? Just how much does The Last Shot matter to the Air Jordan 14? It’s a question we’ll never know the answer to because Michael Jordan did drive away from the United Center after Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals in a red Ferrari and he did make The Last Shot (in a Bulls uniform) in the Air Jordan 14s.

Juan Martinez

From video game journalism to veteran of the sneaker blog era to podcasting about well, everything, Juan is smiling through it all and can't believe this is his life. After recently getting into Formula 1, he now has hot takes about who the greatest driver of all time is. Email: juan@soleretriever.com