Shots have officially been fired in the shoe game. Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins gave Puma a nice shoutout when asked about the Zion Williamson situation:
DeMarcus Cousins was asked about Zion Williamson’s shoe exploding and if that’s ever happened to him:
“Not with Puma’s.”
— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) February 21, 2019
For anyone who somehow hasn't seen, the UNC-Duke ticket was a hot item. Some were selling for more than tickets to the Super Bowl.
The main attraction in that fantastic rivalry on Wednesday was Duke freshman Zion Williamson. He's having a fantastic year and is the clear-cut choice to be the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
No one got a chance to see him against UNC, though, because right after the game started, he left with a knee injury. Williamson got injured when one of his shoes exploded and caused him to slip and stretch in an uncomfortable way.
Luckily, the injury doesn't seem to be too severe.
It did, however, bring Nike into an unwanted spotlight, as it was their shoes he was wearing at the time. Cousins made sure to point that out while shouting out Puma at the same time.
In the end, this probably isn't going to be the biggest marketing push for Puma. There are a lot of other things that could happen in the long run that would help them when it comes to competing with Nike.
However, this is something they now have at their disposal. Nike has had this issue before, with Manu Ginobili coming to mind immediately. Given they're the biggest shoe company in the NBA game, Nike is also subject to being under a bigger microscope. Due to that, every bad thing that happens will be heavily scrutinized.
Puma likely didn't tell Cousins to say any of this, which just makes it even more genius on the big man's part.
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