The “Why?” series is new to RedCup as we dive into a news storyline and discuss why the player/team should or shouldn’t do something that will impact their career as well as the rest of the sports world. Last week, we started the series off with Oklahoma QB/OF Kyler Murray and Why?: Why Kyler Murray Made The Right Decision.
We’re going to be looking into what has made the College Basketball world buzzing over the past week and that is the Zion Williamson situation with his recent injury. A lot of media personnel and higher sports outlet are immediately jumping onto him leaving for the NBA or lowering the NBA age to just 18 years old. I disagree with both of those suggestions as we’ll dig into why Zion Williamson should play the rest of the season and why it’s more than just the NBA he is playing for.
Risk of Re-Injury isn’t that big of a deal.
Very rarely ever in College Basketball gets injured yet again, let alone re-aggravate the same injury. The severity of Zion’s injury is light as it’s just a mild knee sprain that would keep him out normally for a week. If the injury was more serious, I would take a bit more caution.
The Re-Injury case isn’t as serious as people think and I’m sure if he missed another game or 2, he’d be back to 100% and back out on the court. It shouldn’t hurt his draft stock as it didn’t hurt Michael Porter Jr’s draft stock when he was out for the entire regular season and was still selected in the Top 10.
Injury or not, Zion is going to get paid in June and will be one of the top headlines come Draft Night. Teams are already tanking now just to try and get the number one spot just to get Williamson.
National Championship aspirations.
This isn’t a Michael Porter Jr. like situation where he only plays 2 games of his College Career and gets picked in the Top 10. Porter continues to be injury plagued as he is already out for the season. Michael Porter went to Missouri and they had no championship aspirations. While for Zion, Duke is a projected #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Zion has made some big time performances already in his college career in many, many games.
He put up 27 and 12 in a huge come from behind win over Louisville. He put up 22 and 10 in their close loss early in the season to fellow #1 seed, Gonzaga. He put up 17 and 13 against a very good Texas Tech team. But him playing in tournament gives him a chance to truly cement his legacy in Duke History. Zion Williamson hasn’t really won his team anything. A National Championship would be the icing on the top and establish himself as the best Blue Devil to ever play. If Coach K knows Zion could play, he’s not going to sit his best player on the team. Espeically for the NCAA Tournament.
One example you can look where a player was injured, but came back for the NCAA Tournament was Kyrie Irving (Duke Alum.). He only played in 8 regular season games, but returned for the NCAA Tournament. They didn’t win the tournament that year. Zion could separate himself from everyone else in Duke history. Porter Jr. returned for the NCAA Tournament after playing in the season opener against Iowa State and that’s it.
The Presence Zion brings down low.
This was very apparent in the North Carolina game once Williamson exited the game. Luke Maye is a very good player and he feasted down low with the presence of Zion out of the equation. North Carolina had 62 points in the paint (most by any team in the NCAA all year long).
Maye had 30 points on 13-20 shooting down low and F Cameron Johnson went for 26 more on 11-13 shooting from near the rim and in the paint. They are both very talented players, but they don’t combine for 56 points with Zion in the game and that would hurt Duke mightily down the stretch if they don’t have that shot blocking presence.
Williamson could sit out and watch his team as they fall short of a National Championship. And everyone saw how Duke played without Zion at home as they got blown out by 16. RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish are great talents, but the forward position instantly becomes a weakness once #1 is off the court. This team without Zion probably makes the Elite Eight and maybe sneaks into the Final Four. This team with Zion makes them a legit contender and the favorite to win the whole thing.
Money. Money. Money. And a Legacy.
I’m not saying this is the best thing that’s happened to Zion from a basketball standpoint. But from a marketing, this situation might just be a blessing in disguise. Nike’s stocks dropped the day after it happened and this is a window of opportunities for other companies. Companies like Under Armour, Adidas, Puma, etc. They all have their recruiting pitches for when Zion does get drafted, they’ve got a reason to try and sway Zion from signing with Nike. This injury isn’t going to lose him more. It might actually make him a richer man when it’s all said and done.
Zion has the potential to be more than just basketball (which is very rare in the sports history). Magic and Larry Bird carried it through the 80’s and was the anchors behind the bitter rivalry that is the Celtics-Lakers. Michael Jordan made it cool and was an icon for his miraculous plays, influencial voice and sneaker deal that he had with Nike and created his own brand. Which still to this day is worth 1.9 Billion dollars.
Lebron created sports politics and has been the face of the NBA since Jordan retired back in 2003. He was the beginning of versatile big players who shoot the perimeter 3 as having one of those is basically part of the criteria of being successful in the NBA.
Zion has an opportunity to bring back old school big men play with his style of offense and rim protecting ability, even at a mere 6-7. His height might not be the most attractive for that, but his speed and weight is something the NBA has never seen before with his 284 lbs. frame. And we know his ability to jump out of any building in America.
