It’s been two weeks since we’ve seen college basketball’s most polarizing prospect take the court. If you even remotely consider yourself a sports fan, then the picture of Zion Williamson busting through his shoe and spraining his knee must be engraved in your head.
But now, the reoccurring question is: when will he return?
The injury reported was a minor knee sprain, but people question the severity of the injury with Williamson still sidelined. The Blue Devils chemistry has been noticeably disrupted during Zion’s leave of absence. Duke has endured losses to both North Carolina and Virginia Tech during this two-week span and barely avoided an upset by Wake Forest last night.
Yesterday, Coach Mike Krzyzewski updated the media on Williamson’s pending return.
C.L. Brown from The Athletic reported Krzyzewski would “be surprised if he’s not ready by the ACC tournament.” Coach K also revealed that Williamson did indeed participate in “some basketball stuff” that afternoon. But, he went on to disappointed fans when reporting Zion’s outlook for this Saturday’s game at Chapel Hill. Krzyzewski stated, “I don’t think he’ll be ready for Saturday.”
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The message was simple and clear. The Blue Devils will continue to prioritize Zion’s health until he is fully ready to play. College basketball has been recently scrutinized for not paying their players. They cannot run the risk of another freak injury to one of their most prized prospects. If one of them does endure a career-threatening injury, the college basketball world might be set aflame with fans and athletes storming to social media proclaiming their opinions on how athletes should skip college.
However, the NCAA should not take this lightly. Athletes skipping out on college is a real possibility and seems more prominent in the upcoming future. Why, should players risk injury when their talents are not even getting monetized.
As for the immediate future, the NCAA should proceed with caution. Because players threatening to skip school might soon become a reality.
