As Duke superstar Zion Williamson’s shoe exploded less than a minute into Wednesday night’s meeting between the Blue Devils and North Carolina, the basketball world held its collective breath.
Williamson would eventually be diagnosed with a mild knee-sprain and did not return to the game after hobbling back to the locker room. All things considered it wasn’t the worst outcome for the potential No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, but a scary moment nevertheless.
Broadly, it was a reminder of how quickly a career can take a turn, and in the case of NCAA athletes not far from their NBA dreams, how quickly millions can turn into thousands. How fast dreams can stay that way.
Short of Saquon Barkley’s bowl appearance in Arizona two years ago, Penn State athletics has avoided the drama of high-profile players needing to decide between their school and their future.
Even so, the risk is still just as real for any player so close to the finish line.
‘I think it’s just an unfortunate situation,’ Penn State forward Lamar Stevens said before practice on Thursday. ‘I was just telling my teammates that I don’t think Nike makes shoes for 300-pound people who move as well as he does. So I’m surprised that’s the first shoe he broke.’
‘I think for myself I don’t want to look at the negatives and worry that I’m going to get hurt the next game or the next practice, I just go out and play and enjoy it. That’s what I’m going to continue to do, I don’t want to have that fearful mindset.’
Stevens might not have the same national profile as Williamson, but he is approaching all of the same moments in his life. Often lost in the departure of Tony Carr a year ago, Stevens himself contemplated a departure, even if just to explore his options. A year later Stevens is playing the best basketball of his life, averaging nearly 20 points a game and nearly nine rebounds to go with it.
If he left, it would be hard to blame him.
‘I was thinking about it, I didn’t know if I wanted to test my options just to see where I stood, just to get feedback,’ Stevens said. ‘Right now I’m just focused on this team, me and coach, we’re really close and we’re able to have real honest conversations and that’s something that we’ll revisit at the end of the season and see what our options are.’
The question, that of Stevens’ future, might be coming a few weeks earlier than usual but it’s an answer that could dictate the 2019-20 season. If he returns it stands to reason a more seasoned group of Nittany Lions will be able to turn the corner in some of these close contests. An NCAA Tournament bid would be the goal, and the program will be held to that standard.
Without Stevens, that path would be more difficult.
On Thursday, Stevens was never asked point blank if he intended on returning next season, but if you wanted to read between the lines you could as he was asked about his interest in graduating, a smile across his face a bit more telling than the words he actually said.
‘Of course I would want to graduate,’ he said, the grin hidden behind a microphone.
Whatever Stevens does it would be hard to fault him, especially as he and the rest of the nation watched the world’s hottest prospect grab fall to the ground in pain, getting nothing for his efforts, all in the name of amateurism.
