This shoe hit the market hard. It was gutter, In yo’ face, hardcore, just like the man behind it. In a commercial for this Nike basketball shoe worn by Charles Barkley, he sat poolside alongside his Airness himself. Jordan lifted up his IX’s, spit his lines, and then Barkley replied “Mine has a strap.” For the first time in his career, Jordan had really lost. The Air Force Max featured an external metal- mesh strap, a contoured polyurethane midsole foot frame, and a molded external heel counter. It was wrapped around a maximum-level visible Air- Sole unit. All of these features helped to heighten the shoe’s place in the basketball hall of fame.