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Nike stock drops after Duke star Zion Williamson tears through shoe

By Connor Grott
Nike stock dropped Thursday morning after Duke Blue Devils freshman star Zion Williamson blew through his shoe and suffered a knee injury against North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Duke Basketball/Twitter
Nike stock dropped Thursday morning after Duke Blue Devils freshman star Zion Williamson blew through his shoe and suffered a knee injury against North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Duke Basketball/Twitter

Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Nike stock dropped Thursday morning after Duke Blue Devils freshman star Zion Williamson blew through his shoe and suffered a knee injury against North Carolina.

Nike shares dipped 1.73% before the market opened and fell about 1 percent in the first 10 minutes of trading, according to ESPN and Yahoo Finance. It's an on-paper loss of $1.12 billion in Nike's market cap.

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The sports apparel company issued a statement Wednesday night, saying it is investigating the "issue."

"We are obviously concerned and want to wish Zion a speedy recovery," Nike's statement said. "The quality and performance of our products are of utmost importance. While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue."

Williamson's injury occurred seconds into Wednesday night's rivalry game between the Blue Devils and Tar Heels. The freshman phenom slipped while planting his pivot foot on Duke's opening possession, with his left foot tearing through his Nike shoe.

The 6-foot-7 forward left the game with a knee injury and didn't return. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski declared the injury a mild knee sprain following the game.

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"We're very concerned about Zion," Krzyzewski said. "It's a mild knee sprain. We will know about length of time tomorrow. It's stable. Obviously it has an impact. You lose the National Player of the Year on the first play."

No. 8 North Carolina defeated top-ranked Duke 88-72. The Blue Devils play the Syracuse Orange on Saturday.

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