Nike Inc. (NKE) stock opened lower on Thursday and is trading in the red territory as a sneaker split injured Duke Blue Devils forward Zion Williamson during a basketball game. The sneaker malfunctioned during a game against the University of North Carolina team and has sent Williamson limping off the court.
Williamson, who appeared to suffer a knee injury, withdrew in 33 seconds from the match start. He suffered from a mild sprain in his right knee that was stable, coach Mike Krzyzewski told the Reuters. Also, Nike responded that the company is obviously concerned and wanted to wish Zion a speedy recovery.
Zion was wearing a Nike PG 2.5 basketball sneaker as the company has been the exclusive supplier to Duke University under a 12-year extended contract, according to the ESPN. The absence of Williamson outweighed the team’s defeat.
Experts believe that the sneaker split could remain an embarrassing one for Nike but investors seem to be keeping cool heads over the incident. Criticism and remarks over the craftsmanship of Nike’s sportswear have flooded the social networking platform Twitter and there was immediate.
Wall Street analysts, meanwhile, expect the situation to have a limited impact on the company’s stock. A few of them believe that the fall in stock could present a buying opportunity for investors as the company has generated the vast majority of its sales from lifestyle or fashion.
Also, Nike started looking out for answers into what went wrong as this remained one of the most high-profile apparel failures. This has been one of the most anticipated college basketball games of the year, which was televised nationally on ESPN.
Shares of Nike have risen over 24% in the past year and over 15% in the past three months.