Air Jordan 7

In 1992, following the success of the Air Jordan VI and Michael Jordan's first NBA Championship, Tinker Hatfield continued his innovation in the Air Jordan line with the Air Jordan VII which was inspired partially by West African Tribal culture and partially by the Nike Huarache basketball shoe line. The AJVII had a more colorful, more minimal and more lightweight design than previous Air Jordans.

The Air Jordan 7 design said goodbye to visible Air, the translucent outsole and the prominent Nike Air logo (except on the insole). The upper was similar to the AJ VI with minor alterations; the toecap design was a carryover from the VI.

A stitched Jumpman appeared on the heel of the thin, unpadded leather upper. A triangular piece of the rubber outsole wrapped up to secure the midsole. The heel featured a hard plastic arrow-shaped piece with the number 23. The heel piece had a pull tab used to lock the foot into the inner sockliner.

The Air Jordan VII marked several changes in the Air Jordan series: There was minimal Nike branding both on the shoe and in the marketing campaigns. Ads shifted from MJ's teamup with Mars Blackmon to Michael and Bugs Bunny. One commercial featured the duo both wearing the AJ VII beating another team in a game of hoops.

Michael Jordan wore the Olympic-inspired version of the VII as he led the "Dream Team" to a Gold Medal at the 1992 summer games in Barcelona. That pair featured the number 9 on the heel, reflecting MJ's jersey number on Team USA. MJ won his sixth straight scoring title while wearing the AJ VII and was again named first team All-NBA, first team All-Defense and an All-Star for the seventh consecutive time. He was voted league MVP for the second straight year and won his second NBA Championship ring and Finals MVP with the Bulls.