Nike Inc. became a target of jokes when a star U.S. college basketball player sprained a knee mid-game because one of his shoes split during play.
Duke University star Zion Williamson limped off the court after the mishap during the game against his school’s arch rival University of North Carolina. Twitter lit up with jibes and jeers aimed at the No. 1 sports brand, pushing the keyword Zion to the top of the worldwide trending list as of Wednesday night; Duke followed and Nike came fourth.
Former President Barack Obama, courtside at the high-profile clash, was shown on video appearing to say with an incredulous look: “His shoe broke!”
“His shoe broke.” pic.twitter.com/FAtpaF5uAt
— Chase Hughes (@chasedcsports) February 21, 2019
“We are obviously concerned and want to wish Zion a speedy recovery,” Nike said by email. “While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue.”
Williamson suffered a mild knee sprain, according to Duke’s coach Mike Krzyzewski. UNC defeated Duke 88-72 after Williamson exited less than one minute into the game, handing AP’s top nationally ranked team its third loss this season.
This isn’t the first time that Nike’s had problems with their basketball merchandise. After taking over as the official NBA uniform supplier in 2017, multiple stars including LeBron James had their jerseys rip.
