American basketball star Williamson in an important game, because the Nike sneakers were cracked and sprained. The incident caused Nike's stock price to fall by 1% and its market value evaporated by nearly US$1.5 billion (about RMB 10 billion).
According to AFP on February 21, Duke's basketball forward and this year's draft No. 1 favorite Zion Williamson (Zion Williamson) fell and was forced to get out of the court just a few seconds after the game against the University of North Carolina.
Williamson's sneakers are Nike PG 2.5 in the Paul George series signature sneakers produced by Nike. Previously, it was not uncommon for players to break their sneakers on the court, but it was rare for Williamson to directly stomp the sneakers, and Nike shoes and Paul George became the targets of mocking online.
video playback shows Williamson falling to the ground and hugging his knee in pain. His left foot shoe was torn in half, and part of the sole fell off the sole of the sneaker.
Then he walked to the bench and walked to the locker room a few minutes later, leaving his torn shoes under the chair.
Williamson did not play again, and the result of this game was that Duke, the number one, lost to the eighth team.
Nike has always been a sponsor of Duke University, and Williamson has been playing in these sneakers, but this kind of problem has never occurred. In addition, this sneaker is a basketball shoe launched last summer and is also one of the most popular signature sneakers for active players in . The
incident caused Williamson to sprain his right knee and it is currently impossible to confirm when he will recover.
It is reported that former US President Obama was also on the court, so the media paid more attention to this game. Someone photographed Obama's expression at the time, and immediately stood up and shouted "His shoes are broken!"
. Shortly after Zion Williamson's shoes burst, Nike became a laughing stock on social media, and its stock price was hit. The company's shares fell about 1% on Thursday, a drop of about $1.5 billion.
A spokesperson said Nike has begun an investigation into the so-called "isolated" incident. "There have been examples of failures before, but not so obvious," said Matt Powell, a senior sports industry consultant at market research firm NPD Group.
Nike signed with Duke players in 2015 and provided uniforms and sneakers for players for 12 years. Nike said in a statement, "We are very concerned about Williamson's injury and hope he can improve as soon as possible. Nike is very concerned about the quality of its brand. Although the incident of sneakers being broken is an isolated case, we will still investigate the matter clearly."
Editor: Shi Wei
