The No. 1 ranked Duke Blue Devils received a major scare when star freshman Zion Williamson went down early on Wednesday’s game against North Carolina with a freak knee injury.
It happened about 30 seconds in the game when Williamson’s Nike shoe almost literally exploded — leading to a knee injury for the likely No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
The good news here is that Williamson suffered a mild knee sprain and is considered day-to-day.
Though, the freakish forward will miss Saturday’s game against ACC rival Syracuse.
Duke’s Zion Williamson will not play tomorrow at Syracuse, source told @Stadium. Suffered knee injury against North Carolina and is listed as day-to-day with a Grade 1 knee sprain.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 22, 2019
This really shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Duke is going to take is slowly with Williamson as the team prepares for the conference tourney and ultimately the NCAA Tournament.
As it relates to Williamson, there’s absolutely no reason for him to return to the court until he’s 100 percent. In fact, some believe he should shut it down and prepare for June’s NBA Draft.