Zion Williamson Wears Reinforced Nike Kyrie 4 in Duke's Win Over Syracuse

The sports world let out a big gasp when college basketball star Zion Williamson blew through his Nike PG 2.5 sneaker just 36 seconds into Duke’s game against UNC. This resulted in a knee sprain and arguably worse, a load of bad press directly aimed at Nike. In his first game back from injury, Zion swapped Paul George’s signature for the Nike Kyrie 4 – not before the Swoosh provided the top prospect with a reinforced edition of Kyrie Irving’s fourth signature model. According to Jonathan Jones – writer for Sports Illustrated – Nike representatives made a trip to Durham the day after Williamson’s injury and flew to China to make sure Duke’s highflyer was equipped with a more stable shoe. Zion was then given a reworked sneaker the following week.

Williamson posted 29 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 steals all while shooting a perfect 13 for 13 from the field. With Duke’s 84-72 win only a small step in this year’s ACC tournament, the Coach K-led team will face off against UNC once more in the tournament’s semifinal round tonight – Williamson’s perfect chance at redemption.

Take a look at Zion’s reinforced Nike Kyrie 4 “Duke” PE and let us know who you think will be cutting down the nets at the end of this year’s March Madness tournaments.

Coach K: Nike flew in their top people to Durham the day after the shoe blew out. Those people then flew to China to oversee the manufacturing of a stronger, more stable shoe. They came back to Duke a week later with the shoe.

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) March 15, 2019