Air Jordan 4 “Thunder”: Sneaker Release Date, Price, Where To Buy

On Saturday, Jordan Brand will be going back into the vault for one of their more famous lifestyle retros, bringing back the Air Jordan 4 “Thunder” for a retail price of $210.

I’ve written about the Air Jordan 4 plenty of times recently — including the Military Black, A Ma Maniére and of course the Nike SB collab — and it feels like the model has been having a bit of a moment of late. The Nike SB collab is one of my early contenders for sneaker of the year, and remains relatively popular on the resale market with an average sale price of $379 on StockX. As the heat has died down a bit on the Air Jordan 1, I think models like the Air Jordan 3 and the Air Jordan 4 have picked up the slack a bit, reminding people that they are classics in their own right.

Saturday’s release is just the third time the “Thunder” colorway has hit retail. Released for the first time in 2006, the “Thunder” was originally a very limited release and one of the first online exclusives on what was then jumpman23.com. It dropped along with the “Lightning” colorway and each came with its own exclusive apparel. As such it has remained something of a grail for some, with the average sale price on StockX for the original 2006 model currently sitting at $502. The shoe did retro in 2012, but many consider that to be a dark period when it came to Jordan Brand in terms of quality and it predates some steps the brand has done to up its game. That being said, the 2012 model does currently have an average sale price of $539 on StockX, although it should be noted that there have been 205 sales of the 2012 model on the platform compared to just six of the 2006 model.

As for the shoe itself, this model is a standard Air Jordan 4, with a majority black nubuck upper with yellow accents throughout. SNKRS notes that the retro returns “true to form” and has the same material build as the 2006 model. It should be noted that the back heel tab and the outsole both feature the Jumpman logo rather than the OG Nike Air branding, reflecting the fact that this was not an original colorway of the shoe. This model also does not feature the changes made to the Nike SB collab (i.e. the softer rubber on the wings and back heel tab). But, the bottom line is that if you’re familiar with the Air Jordan 4 this release should hit all those high points and based on the pair I hit on the shock drop with seen in our video above, the build quality seems to be quite good.

There was already a shock drop in April as well as exclusive access in May for this release, which would seem to indicate that there will be decent stock of this retro. Given those early releases, there are already 4,881 sales on StockX for the 2023 edition, resulting in an average sale price of $290. Its sibling shoe, the “Lightning” retroed in 2021 and currently has an average sale price of $307 on StockX, for comparison’s sake. Given what appears to be plentiful stock, it seems that at least for now, those looking to flip these may see minimal return, so it may be best to hold onto them for a bit. However, if you’re just happy to have a chance to add these to your personal collection, I think you’ll be very happy. Best of luck to all looking to pick up a pair!

To see more of this month’s releases, check out our release date calendar.