MIAMI _ As Duke's Zion Williamson continues to sit out due to the knee injury sustained in his recent sneaker blowout, it initially got the Miami Heat's resident sneaker mogul thinking about such an impact on his own brand.
As the NBA face of the Li-Ning brand, Dwyane Wade, who holds a lifetime contract with the manufacturer, said he appreciates how a brand such as Nike is better positioned to deal with the fallout of their sneaker gone bad.
"A brand like Nike, it doesn't really do it, it's not a thing, because for Nike for every one of those instances, they get a lot of publicity from the positive standpoint," he said. "A brand like mine, it would be hurt a little differently, because it would be, 'Oh, it's Chinese, it's cheap, it's this, it's that.' So when it's Nike, nah."
Asked if his signature shoes are built to last, Wade smiled and responded, "You would hope so, but they thought theirs were built to last."
He also noted the unique forces put on a basketball shoe by a player of Williamson's build.
"You've got a different beast, a different athlete," he said, with Williamson sitting out Saturday's game against the University of Miami.
And sometimes, Wade said, stuff sometimes just happens.
"When I was at Converse, I remember having a little blowout, not the same, but my bottom came off a little bit," he said. "So these shoes are handmade, too. So obviously every shoe is made a little different sometimes. The glue isn't as tight. So once you know the process, you understand it can happen."
