The marquee game of the college basketball season between historic rivals Duke and North Carolina sparked a national debate about sitting out to avoid injury after Zion Williamson blew out the left side of his shoe.

The sea of Cameron Crazies fell silent just 30 seconds into the highly anticipated matchup when the 6’7, 280-pound Williamson tore through his shoe as he slid at the top of the key. Williamson is seemingly the first player to blow out a shoe since Calvin Cambridge in “Like Mike.”

All jokes aside, Williamson sliding caused him to suffer a mild knee sprain that kept him out of the historic matchup. Without their leader, Duke wasn’t able to keep pace with North Carolina, falling 88-72.  After the game, Williamson was listed as day-to-day.

Williamson’s injury posed the question of whether he should sit out the rest of the season, including March Madness, in order to reduce the risk of injury that would affect his NBA draft stock.

Scottie Pippen spoke about Williamson sitting out prior to the injury, “For him as a young player, I would shut it down.  I would stop playing because I feel that he could risk a major injury that could really hurt his career.”

The two opposing viewpoints in the Zion debate are sitting out to reduce the risk of injury or to continue playing to develop as a player and contend for a championship.

Many national pundits agree with Pippen.

“The fact that he has a lot of money riding on it and he’s getting paid nothing for college; the obvious decision is to not play and sit out. Wait till you get that big pay day,”  Bomani Jones, co-host of ESPN’s “High Noon,” said.

Jay Williams, former NBA player and current ESPN college basketball analyst, concurred saying, “You have a chance to make a lot of money. That’s a major, major decision, and you have to be able to compartmentalize your love for the game as opposed to the long end of the game business wise.”

Williams also said, “He doesn’t need to play anymore. There’s nothing else for Zion Williamson to prove on this level.”

Jalen Rose, former NBA player and current ESPN analyst, brought up a valid counterargument, “He’s getting better instruction and coaching right now then he’s going to get next season. That’s an absolute fact.  He gets a chance to play on a big stage.  He gets a chance to develop his game, and I think he comes back and plays really well.”

Another reason to continue playing is that an injury can happen at any time.

“Even if he shuts it down, it’s not like he’s going and locking himself in a room. [If] he shuts it down he’s going to have a personal trainer, he’s going to be working out… So, if we talk about shutting it down, he really won’t be shutting it down,” Seth Greenberg, former college basketball coach and current ESPN college basketball analyst, said.

“His equipment malfunctioned. That’s what led to his knee getting injured. Therefore, if he’s working out in a gym somewhere and not playing at Duke that same thing could have happened,” Jalen Rose said.

Prior to the injury, Williamson addressed the topic of sitting out the season, “I can’t just stop playing. I’d be letting my teammates down. I’d be letting Coach K down. I’d be letting a lot of people down. I came to Duke to play.”

The basketball world is waiting to see if Williamson will keep the same mentality after his injury. The safe and monetarily concious decision is to sit out; however, it will be difficult for Williamson to sit out with Duke poised as one of the top contenders to win a championship, not to mention the flood of criticism that would pore on Durham, N.C.