The Air Jordan 16 arrived in 2001 at a hundred and sixty dollars, the first main-line model designed without Tinker Hatfield. Wilson Smith III took over and built a shoe with a removable gaiter shroud, deliberately referencing the past, the patent toe of the 11, the gaiter of the 14, the mesh and clear sole of the 5.

It landed in a strange moment, after Jordan’s second retirement and around the start of his Washington comeback, so it never got a clear on-court identity. The shroud was a bold idea that not everyone wanted, and the 16 quietly became one of the catalog’s sleepers.

Black and red, white and navy, Ginger, and Cherrywood are the colorways collectors remember. The 16 is the opening of the post-Hatfield chapter, a transitional shoe more interesting for what it started than for what it sold.