Rockets: P.J. Tucker recalls impressing Michael Jordan with his Air Jordans

A rare item in P.J. Tucker’s extensive shoe collection once caught the attention of Michael Jordan himself, as the Houston Rockets forward recalled in 2018.

When it comes to collecting and sporting different shoes, no NBA player beats Houston Rockets forward P.J. Tucker. In fact, there might not be anyone in the world that does. With all eyes being on Michael Jordan‘s “The Last Dance”, I take a look back at the time P.J. Tucker impressed His Airness with a rare item from Jordan’s own signature collection.

P.J. Tucker has been building his reputation as the sneaker king for years. His collection of kicks has grown so much that he even has a separate house solely for the purpose of storing them. That’s a serious collection.

A big part of Tucker’s collection is the Air Jordan line of sneakers, some of which are almost impossible to find. As P.J. told ESPN in 2018, Michael Jordan himself once called out to ask him where he found a particularly rare pair of Air Jordans.

When asked if he has a pair that Jordan doesn’t own, Tucker had this to say: “I was looking for those shoes for so long. I was with Phoenix and finally found a guy that had a pair. I was like, ‘I’m gonna wear them against Charlotte,’ “.

The pair he was wearing that day was the Shawn Marion Air Jordan 5 PE,  a line from someone who enjoyed four All-Star selections with the Suns in the early 2000s.

Being from North Carolina, Tucker was looking to impress his hometown, but I’m sure somewhere in his mind was the fact that Hornets Owner Michael Jordan might take notice as well.

That’s exactly what happened, as Tucker continued:

“He was down there at the end of the bench and I was in the corner right by him. I heard somebody calling my name and I turned around and he’s like, ‘where did you get those from?’. I just kind of laughed to myself. Jordan just asked me where I got a pair of Jordans from. It was crazy.”

The full clip is below, along with ESPN’s full interview about his shoe collection.

Any time you can impress Michael Jordan in any way, you’re probably doing something right.

To see more of Tucker’s collection, head over to P.J.’s Instagram page, where he often showcases some of his favorites and even gives some away from time to time during Instagram Live sessions.