Rival Shoe Company Uses Zion Williamson's Injury To Take a Shot at Nike

By Dave Kovaleski
Published February 21, 2019 at 10:15am

Duke basketball star Zion Williamson had a high-profile wardrobe malfunction Wednesday night in the opening minute of the Blue Devils’ 88-72 loss to North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Just 30 seconds into the game, Williamson was making a spin move when his Nike sneaker gave out.

ZION BUSTED THROUGH HIS SHOE ? @ZionW32 (via @theACCDN) pic.twitter.com/GQXJHgTZvY

— Overtime (@overtime) February 21, 2019

With the force of his pivot, Williamson basically tore the bottom off his shoes and left the game with a knee injury.

He was wearing Nike PG 2.5 sneakers, which are named after Oklahoma City Thunder star Paul George. They retail for about $110, according to USA Today.

A big blow for Duke fans. @ZionW32 goes down & literally out of his shoes. @ChristineRomans @Boris_Sanchez pic.twitter.com/hNd2vrLZtj

— Early Start (@EarlyStart) February 21, 2019

Williamson never returned.

After the game, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called it a “mild knee sprain. The knee is stable. … We don’t know how long he’ll be out.”

He said he expected more details on Williamson’s status in the coming days.

Social media blew up over the highly unusual circumstances that led to Williamson’s injury.

One tweet came from rival shoe company Puma, which said, “Wouldn’t have happened in the Pumas.”

Dear Zion….then deleted by #Puma ? pic.twitter.com/XXudDRfcGx

— Sleeper Athletes (@SleeperAth1etes) February 21, 2019

Puma deleted the tweet about 30 minutes later after some negative feedback on Twitter.

Terrible @PUMA. Completely in bad taste. https://t.co/IqvMIdUMmf

— Hairy Belly Phonté. (@_OED) February 21, 2019

Nike has been Duke’s exclusive shoe provider since 1992 and is in the middle of a 12-year contract with the university, according to Clutch Points.

Do you think Puma's tweet was in bad taste?

Puma is a resurgent player in the basketball shoe market, having recently signed Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley, Michael Porter Jr. and DeMarcus Cousins to sneaker deals, Clutch Points reported.

Nike issued a statement on the incident.

“We are obviously concerned and want to wish Zion a speedy recovery,” the company said, reported USA Today. “The quality and performance of our products are of utmost importance. While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue.”

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