Williamson would leave the game with an injury, leaving the Blue Devils short-handed for the rest of the night in a game they would go on to lose 88-72.
Williamson's injury seemed rather extraordinary at first glance an exploding shoe is hardly a common occurrence but as some Twitter users were quick to point out, it was far from the first time fans have seen Nike shoes unravel in the middle of a game.
David Astramskas from Ballislife.com posted a montage of similar instances to Twitter, showing NBA players such as Manu Ginobili, Andrew Bogut, and Aaron Gordon befalling a similar fate to Williamson.
Even LeBron James has had a shoe give out on him in the middle of a game.
Williamson also isn't the only person to have run into problems with the particular shoe he was wearing.
In Wednesday night's game, Williamson was sporting the PG 2.5s, Paul George's signature shoe.
On Nike's website, one reviewer reported a similar issue with the shoe, writing that after a month of wear, the sole had "busted through the bottom."
Nike has also had performance issues on the court beyond its footwear. At the start of the 2017-18 NBA season, the first since Nike took over as the league's jersey provider, numerous players struggled with torn uniforms.
In real-time, Williamson's shoe-malfunction felt like a one-in-a-million happening Nike even implied as much by calling the matter an "isolated incident."
Looking through the brand's history, the problem is more common than you might think.
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