 Today, we're going to be taking a look at the Air Jordan 3 in the Wizards colorway. Although this is the first time this shoe has ever released to the public, there is a lot of history and nostalgia behind it and I'm excited to get into this shoe and show you guys all the details. Starting with the box right here, you have your new retro style Air Jordan 3 box. We have seen this on previous retros in the past as well. You got some of the dominant accent colors on the back end and then the elephant print on the front end of the box and then similar to the Jumpman, you have those accent colors as well. On here, you got more of a copper Jumpman on the top of the lid and then going around to the front, it reads Air Jordan 3 Retro White Metallic Copper. Retail on these things is said to be 210 bucks and unfortunately this isn't my size but I'll explain it to you guys in a second. Now cracking open the lid of the box right here, you have your all over elephant print paper and then you got the shoe. Oh, you got the shoe. Okay, first impressions of this sneaker. As I feel it, I'm going to say these are slightly a step above the Cardinal 3's but definitely not the best quality. Oh yeah, and if you didn't know by now, my name is DJ and this is the DNA Show. Now, before I get into breaking down all the styles, cuts and materials of this shoe, we got to talk about the history first. Some people may say this sneaker is very similar to the True Blue 3, which I will be doing comparisons of later in the video of the 2016 and the 2011 retro but we got to take it all the way back to 88 when the Jordan 3 originally released. During that time, we saw iconic models like the white cement and the black cement 3 and everybody can't forget the fire red 3's but another one that low key flew under the radar, the True Blue 3. After the original release, we then saw a retro version that came out in 2001 that I still personally love to this day and I can honestly say those are still some of the best retro's of the True Blue 3's of the four versions that came out after the OG. Yes, that's right. There were four different versions. You had the 2001, the 2009, which was not American release. You had the 2011, which was an American release and then you had the 2016 with the Nike Air, which was the first time that we saw a Nike Air on it but the quality and the materials on that one, it was pretty bad. I vividly remember back in 2016 when that shoe came out, there was a lot of hype behind the shoe and then once people saw it in person, it sat on shelves for a long time. Now, yes, I know it's been some years so now the prices have gone up and people can say it was still expensive now but you got to remember seven years ago, not that many people really wanted them like that. So what does any of that have to do with this pair right here? As you can see when I put this shoe right above the other, they look very, very similar and that's because they're essentially the same shoe but this was actually a player exclusive version that Michael Jordan wore on the court back in 2001 when he came back to the NBA and played for the Washington Wizards. MJ played for the Wizards for a few seasons from 2001 to 2003 and when he entered the league in 2001, he also decided to donate his entire season salary to the 9-11 Relief Fund because that had recently just happened a month before the season started. When MJ came back on the court, we saw him rock in the true blue threes and yes, technically he did wear the color with the red bottom on him but he also had this pair. As you can see, it has the copper bottom, the copper eyelets and the copper jump man right here on the front end. So during that time in 2001, we did have the retro that released to the public with the red accents on it similar to the OG but MJ was subtly wearing this PE and other versions like this on the court as he played throughout the season. So yes, I know a lot of people remember him rocking the cool gray 9s or the cool gray 11s and all the shoes that came out during that time over the three-year window from the 16, 17s and 18s. Bruh, we need them to retro the ginger 16s. I don't know about you, but those in the Cherrywood 16s, chef's kiss. And honestly, the 17s that was coming out at that time too, we need all that stuff to come back. But either way, I'm getting a little bit off topic because this brings back so many memories for me during this time in this era and this is actually the first time that we've seen this specific colorway released to the public. So from 2001 to now in 2023, we are finally seeing a retro of the OG PE version that we saw on the basketball court. Oh yeah, just a couple other quick stats for you guys. Michael Jordan was the first person to score over 40 points as a 40-year-old in the NBA. He passed Korean for most points in the all-star game, which yes, I know it was passed by Kobe and LeBron after. He averaged almost 24 points a game at that age, led his team to a winning season and he was an MVP nominee. But we all know Jordan got a bunch of accolades, so let's go ahead and start breaking down this shoe and get into these comparisons. Starting with the bottom of the foot right here, you got your classic Air Jordan 3 bottom. Now this has the Jordan branding compared to the Nike branding. If this was an OG retro, it would say Nike instead of Jordan right here. And then obviously you can see like I said earlier with the colors, you have a copper color on the Jordan and the pod right here on the ball of the foot, compared to the red accents with the actual true blue threes. Now going up to the mid-soles right here, you can say yes, these look exactly like the true blues, but if you put these side by side with the true blue threes, you can see that the blue is actually a different shade compared to that colorway. So it's kind of like a little bit more of a muted version compared to the true blue and that more deeper royal that you would typically see. Now taking into the upper, one of people's favorite parts right here, you got your elephant print on the back and the front end around the toe and the heel. But when it comes to the true blue threes, they also did it in the center of the foot right here on the upper. And this has always been a dope touch and accent. When it comes to the true blue three color blocking, I think it just gives the shoe a little bit more of a pop and character to it, compared to if you look at something like the fire red threes. Yeah, you can say that's still clean and all, but this definitely does add another little element to the shoe. Now typical fashion when it comes to a Jordan three, you usually got three different types of leather. You got a smoother leather right here at the bottom, a tumbled leather throughout the whole upper. And then on the back end, you got a perforated leather around the collar area. Like I said earlier, when it comes to the heel of the foot, you have a jump man with the air logo right here, compared to the Nike air. And we understand that because this was a retro. Also during that time, Jordan wore these on the court for his PE with the same style, the jump man with the air. Because later in Jordan's career, he actually became his own entity and became the Jordan brand. And that's why they started removing the Nike logo from sneakers and causing retros to then have the jump man on the back like this. Now going to the tongue and the laces, you got your standard flat white laces, a white tongue with the perforated dots behind the laces. And then you have a copper jump man just above that. Looking at the sock liner, you got more of that navy royal type blue as well, matching the midsole. And then the insoles also have that same color with the white jump man on there as well. Now, before we get into my opinions of this sneaker, I got to shout out the homies over there at heart. They got these in early and I had to pull up and see if I can get my hands on them. Unfortunately, they didn't have my size. And I said, hey, bro, I still need to borrow these shoes and give the people a review. So shout out to heart and speaking of that, I actually did some comparisons with the people at the store to see what they think about the shoes, whether they like these or the true blue threes more. This is what they say. All right, out of these two shoes, which one do you like the most? I'm gonna have to go with the true blue. The true blue three, why would you say that one? I just, I like the red with it. I'm not a big yellow fan, so that's why I like it. Okay, I feel that, I respect. Okay, so out of these two shoes right here, which ones do you like more? They look really similar. Yeah, pretty similar, but I'll go with this one. This one right here? Okay, these are the wizard Jordan threes. They haven't came out yet, they're coming out in a couple months. Nice shoe. Yeah, nice shoe. I like the pig. Okay, out of these two shoes, which one are you rocking with? I'm sure it's a tough one. I'd say the wizards. The wizard threes? Yeah, I'm saying those. What makes you like the wizard threes the most? I don't know, I just kind of like that copper look. I don't know, I just, I mean, I just, I don't know, I just like that colored. Okay. I mean, they look almost the same, except this one has the red on obviously, but I just like that copper color. I feel it, I feel it, all right, appreciate it. So after seeing those results, let me know what you guys think down below in the comment section. We have a bunch more poll results with the comparisons between these and these other models as well, which I will get to in a second, but let's go ahead and get into the comparisons of these two shoes as I break it down a little bit more. Now, like I said before, I have, it's funny. I have the 2001 retro, but I turned them into roller skates and I forgot to grab them. They're in my closet, but I'll show you guys those in a whole another video. Either way, I have that retro still. I no longer have a wearable pair as a sneaker pair, so I'm gonna just give you guys these as examples right here. Now, this is the 2011 retro, the 2016 with the Nike Air, and then your 2023 Wizards colorway over here. So for these two in particular, as you can see, the tongues are different between the 2016 and then your 2011. This one's more similar to the OG, but the shape and the materials on this shoe are terrible. You got the Nike Air on the back, all those different things. So we can do the comparison. If you look at the poll results right here, you can see people are still rocking with the 2016 retro just because it's the OG, and I completely understand that. But at the same time, I would love if they were to actually recreate this shoe with the OG cut like they did on the 2023. These are very, very similar to the cut and shape and mold of 1988 Air Jordan 3. So yes, there may be some aspects of the nostalgia and everything like that. I still think if they were to match these two together and recreate the Jordan 3 with this style, it would be an ultimate banger. I'm hoping and praying that Jordan Brand does that. We need that with the Black Cement 3 as well, because they didn't do too good on the Black Cement 3s either with the Nike Air. That model was pretty terrible too. So now when you put the 2011 and the 2023 together, you can see they are a lot more similar when it comes to the shape of the two shoes, but the colors are a little bit different. And like I said earlier, it feels like the 2023 is just a little bit more muted because it has that wizard's colorway to it with the copper compared to the red. Now another thing that you guys may see, if you put all the shoes facing forward this way and you look at the tongues, on the retros from back then, you could see the felt material behind the tongue actually wrapping over to the top of the tongue right here. So you can see the blue from the front or the red from the front. But this, like I said, OG cut when it comes to the tongue, you can't see the blue unless you turn it around to the backside right there. So I really, really like this aspect of the sneaker. And then you can see again, when it comes to retros with the booty crack in that era and everything like that, they have this style. And then as you can see in 2016, things started to change and they started flattening out the jump man a little bit. So a lot of sneaker heads that think the shoes are fake and they don't know everything about that. That's just how they used to make the Jordan 3 and stitch them during that retro era, you know, 10, 15 years ago, everything was a little bit different. So when it comes to that element of the sneaker and the smooth jump man, I really like what they did on these as well. Another thing to notice is the elephant print throughout these three sneakers. I feel like they're doing a really, really good job bringing back that OG elephant print and having it a little bit more faint and less prominent when it comes to the black lines that you see on the 2011 pair. These are definitely a lot more defined when it comes to the elephant print. It's a little bit more faint on the 2016, but on the 2023, you can definitely tell the difference. So again, like I said, there's a lot of dope things when it comes to this shoe right here. Now let's talk about one final prediction of this sneaker and that is the price and the value of it. The True Blue Threes sat when they originally came out. The price ended up going up, but the Jordan 3 in particular is not really hitting like that. The Cardinal Threes came out, went to outlets. You got other Jordan Threes with a white dominant colorway that came out and sat. So if the Fire Red Threes with Nike Air came out and sat, I think this is gonna be kind of in that same boat. And yes, I know it's gonna be different region to region depending on the sneaker. And like you guys know, I always say to my videos, I'm a size 13, so what does that mean? It's very hard to get and it's a little bit more limited because there's less pairs. But besides that aspect, I think this shoe should be pretty easy to get when it comes out. And I'm not even sure if people want to truly spin the $210 price point on this sneaker. So I'm interested to hear what you guys have to say. Let me know down below in the comment section. For me, immediate cop, soon as I find somebody with a 13, I'm immediately grabbing this shoe. I love this. As you can see, I like the True Blue Threes. I think the True Blue Threes are still better. The 2011 pair in particular, I think it's better, but at the end of the day, this is definitely a very nice shoe. And it means so much for me that I collect PEs and different things like that. So to see a PE like this come out and hit the streets and be available to the public, automatic cop, I gotta get these. Yo, before you go, I just launched my sneaker head academy where we got everything on the inside. I teach you all the stuff that I learned over the past 15 years. When it comes to sneakers, scaling, real estate, you name it, we talk about all of it in there. And there's a eight week program plus a bunch of monthly giveaways. I give away shoes literally way too much, honestly. But either way, I'll see you guys on the inside. Hit the link down below in my description or pinned in the comment section for DJ sneaker head academy. And I'll see you guys over there. If you made it to the end of this video, drop a comment down below and let me know what is the greatest Air Jordan 3 colorway of all time. Damn. I think I'm gonna go with the black cements. I'm still rocking with the black cements.