Air Jordan IX Citrus

Another hookup from another family member. I was stoked when he gave me a pair of the Air Jordan IX Citrus. Like the colourway of my AJ VIIs, these are based on the Gatorade logo without using their company name.

Designed by Tinker Hatfield and inspired by Japanese art, the heel features the no. 23 and a Jumpman logo covering a globe. Appropriately placed to coincide with the multilingual words on the sole describing the 6' 6" shooting guard such as, "uhuru," "intenso," and "fuerza."


The AJ IX was released shortly after Michael Jordan announced his first retirement in 1993 to pursue a career in baseball. He would not play a basketball game at all wearing this model. However, they were converted into cleats when he was a member of the Birmingham Barons.


MJ did wear the AJ IXs once on the hardwood when he flew like an eagle in Space Jam. Embedding was disabled, so click here to watch the video on its host website.


When Michael Jordan was immortalized in bronze form at the entrance of the United Center, Tinker Hatfield decided the statue should wear the AJ IX because the sneaker was meant to symbolize his impact on a global scale.