Nike's stock falls after Duke star is hurt as his sneaker comes apart

[vailpass]

Anybody see this bizarre scene last night? A minute into the biggest hoops game of the year the biggest star in the college game goes out with a knee injury caused by his Nike shoe falling apart when he makes a cut.

Nike is playing damage control after Duke basketball phenom Zion Williamson tore his sneaker in a game Wednesday evening.

Nike's (NKE) stock was down more than 1% on Thursday. Nike builds its reputation around creating premier shoes and clothes for athletes, but that image took a hit with Williamson's sneaker snafu.

Analysts attributed the stock move to Williamson, the presumptive top pick in this year's NBA draft and the hottest prospect since LeBron James entered the draft from high school more than a decade ago. Within the first minute of Duke's blockbuster matchup against rival North Carolina on Wednesday, one of Williamson's Nike PG2.5 shoes split apart.

Williamson left the game with a knee injury. Former President Barack Obama was sitting courtside, and clips of Williamson breaking his shoe and Obama pointing to it immediately went viral.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Zion&#39;s shoe: destroyed 😳 <a href="https://t.co/LqQ2te0Jay">pic.twitter.com/LqQ2te0Jay</a></p>&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1098404362148208640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Nike, which exclusively supplies Duke's basketball team with uniforms, shoes and gear, quickly released a statement.
"The quality and performance of our products are of utmost importance," the company said. "While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue."

...(cont'd.) https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/business/nike-zion-williamson-shoe-duke/index.html

[Camaro]

Don’t really care about basketball because I’m over 20 and white but that’s funny, Nike’s are made by children in 3rd world countries who get paid next to nothing.

[Hammock Parties]

A whole 1%

LMAO

[Buehler445]

My dad of all people told me about this story.

I don’t know anything about the kid other than he is a BAMF. But that sucks for the kid.

Nike sucks
Duke sucks
The kid might suck but he may not.

[threebag]

Fuck Nike Forever
Fuck Duke Forever and of course...

FUCK DONK FOREVER

[mikeyis4dcats.]

It appears he wore these shoes more than any other pair this season. They are a fairly cheap shoe, and not made to take long term high impact usage. He should have switched up or gotten a new pair.

[Mennonite]

Williamson left the game with a knee injury. Former President Barack Obama was sitting courtside, and clips of Williamson breaking his shoe and Obama pointing to it immediately went viral.

...ahem...Thanks, Obama.

[CoMoChief]

The shoe looked like a cheap pos.

Oh wait...they are cheap pos. @ $100 per shoe

[bowener]

Mahomes' best move so far appears to be donning Adidas.

[threebag]

That’s a lot of torque to rip yourself out of your shoe.

[vailpass]

It appears he wore these shoes more than any other pair this season. They are a fairly cheap shoe, and not made to take long term high impact usage. He should have switched up or gotten a new pair.

Nike's top of the line hoops shoes aren't made to take high impact usage for more than a game or two? Is that what you're saying?
They certainly wouldn't want that to get out.

[alpha_omega]

I think we need to have an investigation.

Nike promises to investigate why Duke star Zion Williamson's shoe fell apart resulting in injury (https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/nike-promises-investigate-duke-star-zion-williamsons-shoe/story?id=61205633&cid=clicksource_4380645_7_heads_posts_card_hed)

[vailpass]

I think we need to have an investigation.

Nike promises to investigate why Duke star Zion Williamson's shoe fell apart resulting in injury (https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/nike-promises-investigate-duke-star-zion-williamsons-shoe/story?id=61205633&cid=clicksource_4380645_7_heads_posts_card_hed)

Some 8 year old Chinese kid is going to be in big trouble.

[Beef Supreme]

I wonder if the conclusion of Nike's investigation will be that they make overpriced shit?

[Otter]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GXE_n2q08Yw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Demonpenz]

Here come the bald head goatees to tell everyone abo it their new balances and tube socks with green striping up top

[Rain Man]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a shoe fall apart mid-cut like that.

In my recent Frank Shorter reading, he donned an experimental pair of Nikes for his 1976 Olympic marathon. He'd worn them a few times and liked them. As he was hanging out in the area waiting for the race to start, one of the shoes had a blowout. He ended up finding a coach for another event who raced back to his hotel, got his backup shoes, and threw them over the fence five minutes before the starting gun.

The story is here, and also contains other drama besides the shoes: https://www.runnersworld.com/races-places/a20818792/the-mystery-man-who-won-the-1976-olympic-marathon/

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Nike's top of the line hoops shoes aren't made to take high impact usage for more than a game or two? Is that what you're saying?
They certainly wouldn't want that to get out.


the shoes are hardly top of the line. They can be bought for under $100. Reports are he wore them for over 10 games plus who knows how many practices. For the nations best college hoopster, thats a beating. To contrast NBA players regularly get new shoes for each game, and they often are less physical than Zion.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a shoe fall apart mid-cut like that.

In my recent Frank Shorter reading, he donned an experimental pair of Nikes for his 1976 Olympic marathon. He'd worn them a few times and liked them. As he was hanging out in the area waiting for the race to start, one of the shoes had a blowout. He ended up finding a coach for another event who raced back to his hotel, got his backup shoes, and threw them over the fence five minutes before the starting gun.

The story is here, and also contains other drama besides the shoes: https://www.runnersworld.com/races-places/a20818792/the-mystery-man-who-won-the-1976-olympic-marathon/


an article I read said shoe blowouts aren't uncommon, but they just are rarely so extreme and to a star player in the biggest game of the season.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

also, if you notice he stubbed his toe several times just prior to stumbling and slamming into the cut, putting even more force behind his move.

[Mephistopheles Janx]

It appears he wore these shoes more than any other pair this season. They are a fairly cheap shoe, and not made to take long term high impact usage. He should have switched up or gotten a new pair.

Nike's top of the line hoops shoes aren't made to take high impact usage for more than a game or two? Is that what you're saying?
They certainly wouldn't want that to get out.

:hmmm:

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Top of the Line!


https://www.finishline.com/store/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=prod2783739&brand_name=NIKE&styleId=BQ8452&colorId=007&cmp=ppc-pla-google-Basketball-Nike%20Men%27s%20PG%202.5%20Basketball%20Shoes%2C%20Grey&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtbnjBRDBARIsAO3zDl_NAb6pg8ydy-fFTieCA1vAqI1C41-NK8e4hMl6QEqCRmrkgmVwRCEaAn6MEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Fish]

Fuck Duke.

[Beef Supreme]

Top of the Line!


https://www.finishline.com/store/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=prod2783739&brand_name=NIKE&styleId=BQ8452&colorId=007&cmp=ppc-pla-google-Basketball-Nike%20Men%27s%20PG%202.5%20Basketball%20Shoes%2C%20Grey&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtbnjBRDBARIsAO3zDl_NAb6pg8ydy-fFTieCA1vAqI1C41-NK8e4hMl6QEqCRmrkgmVwRCEaAn6MEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Notice how they are on sale today. ROFL

[chiefzilla1501]

Really sucks for the guy. But in all the years in sports, how many times did this happen? Was it this pair of shoes or is it a flaw with all of this shoe line? Seems like the most important question....

[Frazod]

Damn, I guess the slave laborers must have assembled his shoe on a Monday. LMAO

[Chris Meck]

maybe they shouldn't have 5 year olds in Taiwan makine their shoes for 5 cents a day.

[JohnnyHammersticks]

A whole 1%

LMAO

It was a bloodbath. Stock holders were jumping out of 1st story windows on Wall Street.

[dlphg9]

maybe they shouldn't have 5 year olds in Taiwan makine their shoes for 5 cents a day.

Bro, Colin Kaepernick told them to "Just do it". They just did it.

[fan4ever]

Looks like Nike took another knee.

[BWillie]

Don’t really care about basketball because I’m over 20 and white but that’s funny, Nike’s are made by children in 3rd world countries who get paid next to nothing.

That is the ****ing dumbest thing I've ever heard.

[Flying High D]

Looks like Nike took another knee.

Nice

[Mephistopheles Janx]

In an quasi related news. Nike's self lacing sneakers are no longer working via app rendering $350 shoes useless.

My favorite quote from the article though are words I never imagined reading...

"My left shoe won't even reboot." writes another.

Link to Article by Arstechnica (https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/02/my-left-shoe-wont-even-reboot-faulty-app-bricks-nike-smart-sneakers/)

[TwistedChief]

This is truly one of the most fantastic stories in sports in a long time. Zion is probably the most exciting prospect to come out of college in a generation. He’s playing in his first Duke/UNC game - the pinnacle of a college basketball experience - at Cameron, and his shoe implodes in the first minute. Now the question for the rest of the season will be whether he’s supposed to just sit out because he’s the clear #1 pick (a la Nick Bosa) or whether he returns. And, what the fuck shoe were you wearing?

I hate, hate Duke. But I love Zion.

Really good stuff.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Mahomes' best move so far appears to be donning Adidas.

Not only do I agree because I like the brand, but Adidas were the first cleat I had for football as a youngster.

[Kiimo]

Looks like Nike took another knee.

Something something Zionists.

[-King-]

This is truly one of the most fantastic stories in sports in a long time. Zion is probably the most exciting prospect to come out of college in a generation. He’s playing in his first Duke/UNC game - the pinnacle of a college basketball experience - at Cameron, and his shoe implodes in the first minute. Now the question for the rest of the season will be whether he’s supposed to just sit out because he’s the clear #1 pick (a la Nick Bosa) or whether he returns. And, what the fuck shoe were you wearing?

I hate, hate Duke. But I love Zion.

Really good stuff.

Yeah I don't know how he's going to play it. If it was just a decent team or worse, then he should 100% sit out IMO but Duke is a championship contender so it would be seen as him giving up on his teammates and on the team if he did. Tough position.

[TwistedChief]

Yeah I don't know how he's going to play it. If it was just a decent team or worse, then he should 100% sit out IMO but Duke is a championship contender so it would be seen as him giving up on his teammates and on the team if he did. Tough position.

If I were him, I totally come back. If I were Nick Bosa, I totally don’t come back. And it’s entirely a function of the different injury profiles between sports and the fact that Zion:Duke is so much more important than Bosa:OSU.

[jjjayb]

It's not like this is anything new. Nike shoe's are cheaply made overpriced crap.

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[lewdog]

Pretty much all shoes are overpriced and cheap nowadays.

[srvy]

Don’t really care about basketball because I’m over 20 and white but that’s funny, Nike’s are made by children in 3rd world countries who get paid next to nothing.

This

[srvy]

My dad of all people told me about this story.

I don’t know anything about the kid other than he is a BAMF. But that sucks for the kid.

Nike sucks
Duke sucks
The kid might suck but he may not.

This also

[srvy]

Should have been wearing suede Chuck Taylors like we did in the 70s.

[Sannyasi]

Williamson obviously didn’t treat his pair with the care they deserve. I’ve been wearing the same pair for years and they’re still in great condition.

[1claire]

Somebody forget to do a quality check before releasing these shoes.