A freak incident during the opening minute of the first Duke vs. North Carolina matchup of the year led to basketball fans holding their collective breaths. Blue Devils star Zion Williamson slipped while in possession of the ball, leading to his foot exploding out of his sneaker and a knee injury that, eventually, ruled him out for the remainder of the game. Even Barack Obama was stunned by what he saw from his courtside seat.
The game is still happening, but in the immediate aftermath, Twitter exploded with takes regarding Williamson’s future in college hoops and why this injury was representative of how insane elements of the sport is, from the fact that Williamson doesn’t get paid to the fact that he was forced to go to college in the first place.
These tweets didn’t just come from fans. A collection of NBA players chimed in on what they saw, including LeBron James.
https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1098408176049807360
Nets veteran Jared Dudley, as he is wont to do, shared his thoughts, saying he was stunned by what occurred.
Never seen anything like it https://t.co/F4zuih2W32
— Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619) February 21, 2019
A number of current and former players called out Nike for this, including Celtics guard Terry Rozier, who used it as a chance to try and recruit Williamson to Puma, which didn’t sit well with Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie.
Come on Nike
— Anthony Morrow (@MrAnthonyMorrow) February 21, 2019
Get Well Soon @ZionNPS
— Carlos Boozer (@MisterCBooz) February 21, 2019
Nike is gonna have to make Zion a special shoe at the next level.
— Trevor Booker (@35_Fitz) February 21, 2019
Come on over to puma 🤷🏾♂️
— Terry Rozier (@T_Rozzay3) February 21, 2019
Instead of making a self serving shoe joke I hope @ZionW32 is ok.
— Spencer Dinwiddie (@SDinwiddie_25) February 21, 2019
Rozier did, however, walk it back a bit, saying he didn’t know Williamson was hurt.
Didn’t know he was hurt 🙏🏾
— Terry Rozier (@T_Rozzay3) February 21, 2019
The best take belonged to Utah star Donovan Mitchell, who saw this, realized how much cash went into this exact game, and pointed out how insane it is that the teenager at the center of it who suffered a knee injury saw none of said cash.
Again let’s remember all the money that went into this game…. and these players get none of it…. and now Zion gets hurt… something has to change @NCAA
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) February 21, 2019
Pay the players. And get well soon, Zion.