Zion shoe blowout wasn’t bust for Nike
A full 20 days had passed since Zion Williamson had been seen on a basketball court, a pained look on his face as the Nike shoe on his left foot exploded underneath him.
So when he returned for Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament after his minor knee injury healed, defying a chorus of cheerleaders urging him to pack it in until it was time to get paid, of course the focus was on his shoes.
Wearing a new set of Nikes that we later learned were custom-made, Williamson went 13-for-13 from the field against Syracuse in his first game back. Immediately afterward, he was asked about shoes.
“The shoes were incredible,” he said.
That game was played at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Caroli
na, where the NBA team owned by Michael Jordan calls home. In retrospect, we should have known what was going to happen right then.
Under any circumstances, it’s no surprise that Williamson, the most marketable player coming out of college basketball since Kevin Durant, signed with Jordan Brand, a subsidiary of Nike.
But under these circumstances? Williamson was quite simply a player Nike couldn’t afford to lose.
If anything, Williamson’s negotiating position with Nike was only strengthened by what happened Feb. 21 when the sole of his PG 2.5 – a signature line endorsed by Paul George – separated from the rest of the shoe during what appeared to be a routine play.
It’s unclear how much the shoe was really at fault. At 6-7, 285 pounds, Williamson puts an abnormal amount of stress on his shoes, and he had worn the same pair for multiple months, perhaps contributing to wear and tear.
Still, even if Williamson escaped that whole situation with just a minor injury, the viral image of him on the ground with that shoe torn away from his foot was a potential disaster for Nike.
Williamson, with his megawatt personality, above-the-rim game and 3.9 million followers on Instagram, is the rare kind of prospect who can easily anchor a signature shoe line before he plays a game in the NBA. And if he lives up to his potential as a pro? You’re talking about a LeBron James-level marketing force.
So the idea of Williamson doing that on behalf of Adidas or Puma or some Chinese company trying to gain a foothold in the American sneaker market – especially with the context of an image that will live forever – would have been a real potential cost to Nike’s business.
Now, it’s merely a part of Williamson’s legend.
Nike was smart enough to realize those stakes and invested right away in fixing whatever problem occurred with Williamson’s shoes.
As Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski revealed on the night of Williamson’s comeback, Nike had dispatched its “top people” to Durham, North Carolina, the very next day to look at the exploded shoe, then went to China with custom measurements to build something specifically engineered for the force Williamson was applying during games.
“We think it’s the best shoe or else we wouldn’t be with them,” Krzyzewski said.
Regardless whether that was just Coach K being a loyal company man, you can imagine the impression that responsiveness and attention to detail made on Williamson, who to that point was basically wearing shoes off the rack.
When Williamson returned, he had switched to a shoe from Kyrie Irving’s signature line.
“I just know they’re a little stronger than the regular Kyrie 4s, so I want to thank Nike for making these,” Williamson said. “They felt very comfortable.”
Presumably his bank account will feel the same way. Although terms weren’t disclosed, an ESPN report Tuesday suggested that Nike’s competitors had been offering Williamson more than $10 million a year, which would be bigger than the deals James and Durant signed upon entering the NBA.
Though Williamson might very well have gotten a record shoe contract regardless of the February incident, it undoubtedly put more pressure on Nike and gave its competitors a whiff of opportunity.
Now, though, Williamson won’t ever have to worry about wearing PGs or Kyries. Pretty soon, a new generation of players are going to be buying their Zions.