Zion Williamson should never play a minute of college basketball again

Zion Williamson should never play a minute of college basketball again

Morning Win

Zion Williamson should never play a minute of college basketball again


This is the online version of our morning newsletter, The Morning WinSubscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Ted Berg is gallivanting around at spring training so Nate Scott will be filling in today.

No matter what the official diagnosis is on Zion Williamson’s injury, which he suffered in the first minute of Duke-UNC on Wednesday night, he should never play a minute of college basketball again.

The injury was a startling one, suffered just 33 seconds in and appeared to come as a result of Williamson’s shoe giving out, after it busted open on the court at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Former President Barack Obama had a meme-able moment in reacting to it, and it appeared that the whole thing was just that, a funny moment of a large man’s shoe breaking.

It quickly became clear it was more than that, though, and then the official word came from Duke: Williamson wouldn’t return. The diagnosis: “Knee.”

The injury Williamson suffered was a stark reminder of how much these young men risk playing college basketball.

AP Photo/Gerry Broome

Looking at it bluntly, it’s sort of hard to believe. Williamson may have suffered a serious injury from a shoe that broke while playing a game in front of thousands of fans who had paid thousands of dollars to be there. Williamson wasn’t paid to play in this game. As Tammi Gaw pointed out on Twitter, that shoe that busted for Williamson? He was wearing it because Nike had a shoe deal with Duke, one worth no small amount of money, none of which Williamson will ever see.

I understand why Williamson may have wanted to go to Duke, how special this team is and how much it must mean to him to play in front of the crazies at Cameron. But he needs to think about his future. He has a professional career ahead of him, a bright one, and he is only jeopardizing it by playing in college.

Scottie Pippen argued that Williamson should have shut it down months ago, with nothing left to prove to NBA teams and only running the risk of injuring himself by staying on the court. People scoffed, but this time at least, Pippen was totally right. Whatever the prognosis, Williamson needs to protect his future. He’s already given us plenty of beautiful moments at Duke. He can let his teammates carry the load now and prepare for the next chapter.

Wednesday’s Big Winner: LeBron James

We had a big old debate about who is the second best NBA player alive, with plenty of names getting mentioned, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, Kevin Durant and others. LeBron James has been in the NBA for 16 years. He’s in his 30s. We still don’t even bother messing with him at the No. 1 spot. It’s a given. We just move on to number two and start the list from there. This is incredible. How can someone be this good for this long?

Quick Hits

  • Ten-man Manchester City came back from 2-1 down to shock Schalke in the first leg of their Champions League tie, and the goals were really something to see. Yes, this was all an attempt by me to get the phrase “shock Schalke” in this column. Shock Schalke. Shock Schalke. Shock Schalke.
  • We had a healthy debate about what sport and position could an average joe off the street walk into a pro game, play significant minutes, and his team would still have a chance to win. I’m not sure what the right answer, but I know what the wrong one is: Hockey goalie. If you put me in a hockey goal I would give up 30 goals a game.
  • A fantasy football league had its loser cover himself in peanut butter and run into a dog park. Those poor dogs.

Thirsty Thursday

(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Ted tells me that Thursdays here are for thirsty Thursdays, so here’s Greg Olsen glistening in the midday sun having a sip of some sports drink. Ahhhh.

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Zion Williamson should never play a minute of college basketball again

Zion Williamson blew out his shoe and suffered a knee injury in the first minute of Duke-UNC. No matter what, he needs to shut it down.
