Pretty much everyone has at least a few thoughts about Zion Williamson’s injury-by-shoe-rip, which happened during the Duke-UNC game on Wednesday night. But NBA players have special insight. Many of them came up through the NCAA system and had to face the same issues. Do I play and risk getting hurt? What will I lose out on if I decide to sit? What happens if I get hurt?

Those are tough questions to grapple with, but DeMarcus Cousins of the Golden State Warriors had no problem laying everything bare for reporters. When he spoke after practice on Thursday, he let his feelings out as only Boogie can and gave young Zion some advice.

Boogie definitely didn’t mince words, but did you expect him to? Oh, and he wasn’t done. He has a shoe deal with Puma, so he took a swipe at Nike and gave Puma some love at the same time.

Ouch. If Nike’s stock hadn’t already fallen due to the shoe-rip injury, that comment might have done it.

Paul George took a decidedly different tone. Williamson was wearing George’s PG 2.5 shoes when one of the ripped apart, causing the knee injury. It certainly wasn’t George’s fault that the shoe ripped — he didn’t spend the summer hand-stitching each pair himself — but he cares that it happened in one of his shoes. The Oklahoma City Thunder star told the media on Thursday that he actually called Nike to find out what went wrong with the shoe.

It’s obvious that George cares about the quality of the shoes that bear his name, though he didn’t reveal what Nike told him about the Williamson shoe-ripping incident.

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