Getty Duke Blue Devils freshman Zion Williamson
To virtually anyone in the world, an $8 million insurance policy is huge. But to a basketball player with the future earnings potential of Duke Blue Devils star Zion Williamson, it’s a blip on the radar. Williamson was involved in a scary scene on Wednesday night when the team faced the North Carolina Tar Heels. Just over 30 seconds into the game, the star freshman slipped and broke completely through his shoe.
At first, it just seemed incredible that Williamson had literally broken through the sole of a shoe. But shortly after the incident, the scene which featured the NBA’s next big star on the ground holding his knee took center stage.
The original speculation was a possible ankle or foot injury, but as Ben Golliver of the Washington Post showed, Zion was down and holding his knee.
Duke’s Zion Williamson exited the court and has yet to return to the bench after leaving court early in first half after awkward slip…
It was a scary situation for Williamson and concerning for all of college basketball as well. After so much time has been spent talking about college athletes not being paid, this was the exact reason why many are pushing for that to change. A serious injury to Duke’s star that sidelined him for an extended period or possibly even set back his entire career would make an ugly conversation even worse.
Zion Williamson’s Insurance Policy
It wasn’t surprising to hear that the Duke star has an insurance policy, and The Action Network’s Darren Rovell revealed the school paid it. The policy is worth $8 million and would only come into play if Williamson fell past the No. 16 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, which has virtually no chance of happening.
JUST IN: Zion Williamson has $8 million in loss of value insurance from policy written by ISI, according to sources. In order to start collecting, however, he would have to slip past the 16th pick in this year’s draft, which isn’t happening.
Even if Zion’s injury sidelined up for an extended period and was proven to be more serious than originally thought, it’s hard to envision a player of this caliber falling out of the lottery. But the impact of a serious injury for anyone playing for one season without being paid before heading to the NBA is huge.
Impact of Potential Injury to Zion Williamson
The conversation involving the insurance policy points to part of the impact of a slide in the NBA draft, but the $8 million doesn’t even begin to cover that. As Jason Belzer of Forbes revealed, DeAndre Ayton’s projected rookie deal for being the No. 1 pick came in at more than $41.24 million before the draft. In comparison, the No. 16 pick, Zhaire Smith’s rookie deal was pegged at roughly $14.08 million for four years.
A drop of $8 million would only cover Williamson (from a salary perspective) from pick No. 1 to 2, as the No. 3 selection was pegged at just north of $32.6 million. So the policy would help lessen the blow, but if Zion even fell outside of the top-five, it would immediately hurt the first stretch of his NBA career.
But the impact goes beyond just the 18-year-old’s first contract. If Williamson suffered some type of a serious injury which impacted his sponsorships and future potential for earnings outside of normal salary, that’s where things get concerning. Some believe Williamson could make more money than any player in NBA history between contracts, sponsorships and other things.
The potential risk of losing that goes beyond an $8 million insurance policy while also putting college basketball in the spotlight for the handling of players. Any player, not just Williamson, is risking millions by playing for free throughout the college season, and something has to change.
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