CHARLOTTE — Everybody and their baby’s momma, Uncle LeRoy and cousin Man-Man has been watching in amazement the return of Zion Williamson during the ACC Tournament. We’ve all seen the ridiculous numbers he put over the past three days to lead the Blue Devils to the ACC Championship.
Just a month ago his Nike shoe exploded on him 36 seconds into his long anticipated first matchup with fierce rival North Carolina. Without Zion, Duke ended up losing that game and two of the next five without him. Televisions turned off and the ratings went down on Duke basketball without Zion on the floor. I know for sure that I stopped watching them because he was the only reason to tune in.
Sure, they’ve got other lottery picks on the floor with Cam Reddish and RJ Barrett but there’s nothing generational about either of them. They are NBA lottery picks but we see NBA lottery picks every year. However, Zion is something that we’ve never seen before. He’s 6’7″ 285-pounds of muscle and force with a wingspan of 6’10” that moves like a gazelle on the floor.
He’s so special that Nike designed a shoe specifically for him in a matter days so that he could play in the ACC Tournament. Yeah, they called it the “Kyrie” because they couldn’t call it “The Zion” this week. In about three weeks they’ll be able to officially call it “The Zion 1!”
He’s still a college basketball player and Nike is designing shoes for him? The explosion of his shoe a month ago was a blessing in disguise. Had he never blown through the shoe he never would have had a shoe designed spiffily for his needs. What does that tell you? He’s about to sign one of the largest shoe deals EVER. By the middle of April this kid will be worth $100 million off of the shoe deal alone and he’ll still be two months from the NBA draft. Sound familiar? LeBron James.
If Nike designed a shoe that essentially worked during the ACC Tournament and is literally endorsed by the most high profiled player in college basketball history that’s worth a fortune and they’ll be willing to pay him his weight in gold. They aren’t about to let him go to Adidas or Reebok. Ain’t no way. He’s already wearing the shoe.
So just sit in the cut and watch it play out and remember that you heard it first on TheJayGravesReport. Stop me when I start lyin’!
Ok Frat!! I got you locked in and I going to be watching 🤘🏾🤘🏾