By ADAM ZAGORIA
Duke has had no discussion of shutting down freshman phenom Zion Williamson for the rest of the season because of his right knee sprain, and there is no timetable on his return.
The 6-foot-7 Williamson sat out then-No. 1 Duke’s win at Syracuse on Saturday and will miss Tuesday’s game at No. 20 Virginia Tech. He is listed as day-to-day going forward.
“He’s not going to play but he’s getting better,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Monday.
“There’s no timetable there. We don’t want to put the pressure of time on him. Let’s just take care of it. We have a great resume this season and we’re hoping to continue to do that. The main thing is for him to get healthy and for us to continue to improve.”
Coach K previously said there was no talk of shutting Williamson down.
“We would never play a kid who’s not ready,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, per ESPN. “We would never play a youngster who didn’t want to play. It’s not about that. He wants to play. He loves being at Duke. He doesn’t like being injured. It’s an injury you can get over in a shorter period of time. There’s just a protocol that we have to go through to make sure he’s completely ready. We’re not rushing anything, so that’s why we said day-to-day because it’s literally day-to-day.”
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony produced research suggesting we likely won’t see Williamson until sometime in March, possibly for the March 9 rematch at North Carolina.
Despite initial “day to day” prognosis, history tells us Zion’s injury will keep him out at least a week, and maybe closer to two. Miami game on March 2nd will be ten days, Wake will be 13 days. Game at UNC on the 9th (17 days) is perhaps most realistic, erring on side of caution https://t.co/ArXmWqVr8I
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) February 25, 2019
A chorus of basketball observers said the 6-foot-7 Williamson should consider shutting it down after he njured his knee on a non-contact play while attempting to take UNC’s Luke Maye off the dribble last Wednesday.
But his AAU coach told me for a story on Forbes SportsMoney that he would be “shocked” if Williamson shut it down if he’s okay to play. And Williamson has said his goal is to win an NCAA championship this year with Duke.
Meantime, the “Sneaker War” over Williamson’s shoe contract figures to intensify because of the Nike malfunction.
The projected No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, Williamson is second in the ACC in scoring (21.6), third in rebounds (8.8) and leads the conference in field goal percentage (.683) and steals (2.2).
No. 1 Duke visits No. 20 Virginia Tech on Tuesday.
ZION BUSTED THROUGH HIS SHOE ? @ZionW32 (via @theACCDN) pic.twitter.com/GQXJHgTZvY
— Overtime (@overtime) February 21, 2019
Photo: Getty Images
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
