Duke star Zion Williamson’s first game against North Carolina came to an abrupt end on Wednesday night, as the presumed No. 1 pick exploded out of his left sneaker less than a minute into a game. Williamson went down holding his knee, was taken to the back, and was not seen for the rest of the night as the Tar Heels rolled the Blue Devils.
Still, the big story on the night was Williamson, because a college player of his stature suffering a knee injury is a big deal. It also was due to the fact that the circumstances surrounding his injury were new to just about everyone, as it’s not every day that someone literally causes a sneaker to explode.
Williamson was wearing the Nike PG 2.5s, and naturally, the shoe’s namesake was asked about the incident on Thursday afternoon, revealing that he spoke to Nike about what caused this to happen.
Paul George on Zion Williamson’s injury and situation with his shoes, says he talked with Nike to find out what went wrong: pic.twitter.com/pJ3N6CEdMj
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) February 21, 2019
“I don’t necessarily know what happened, how it happened,” Paul George said. “Talked with Nike to see what went wrong, what happened with his shoe. I take pride in that, my shoe is a successful shoe, not only in college, but in the NBA. A lot of people been in them, a lot of people been wearing them, so I don’t necessarily know. It’s never happened to my knowledge before. So, it’s tough.”
George was understandably stunned by all of this. He does, indeed, have one of the most popular sneakers in the game among basketball players, and Williamson causing it to tear apart at the seam was less than ideal. There’s no word on what George and Nike spoke about, but going forward, it might be wise for Williamson to wear a shoe that’s a little wider than what the PG 2.5 offers.
