Kobe Bryant on whether Zion Williamson should play after injury: 'Finish your commitment'

Zion Williamson's injury, which he suffered just over a week ago, resulted in a strong reaction from the NBA world, with many calling for the freshman forward to sit out the remainder of the year and shift his focus to June's draft.

NBA legend Kobe Bryant, however, doesn't believe that's the route Williamson should take. Instead, Bryant believes that Williamson should fulfill his commitment to Duke and play again this seasons once he's healthy.

"Players should be able to choose and decide what the hell they want to do, to be honest. Whether you want to go to college or not really depends on you," Bryant told The Undefeated.

"In terms of Zion, if he’s healthy, he should go play. He made a decision to go to college and injuries are a part of that process and sometimes you get hurt, sometimes you don’t, man. But you made the decision to go to college and you made your commitment to the university, then by all means finish your commitment. I expect him to get healthy, get his knee better or whatever it was and come out and kick a—."

The Duke sensation, projected by most as the top pick in June's draft, suffered the injury during the Blue Devils' rivalry matchup against North Carolina on Feb. 20. He slipped, ripped open his shoe and immediately fell to the floor. Williamson grabbed the back of his leg before standing up and walking to the locker room with a noticeable limp and did not return.

He has missed the team's last two games against Syracuse and Virginia Teach as he's considered day to day with a mild knee sprain.

Despite many NBA players who have been vocal about the risk NBA-bound players, especially potential lottery picks, take with their future earnings by continuing to play, Blue Devils coach  Mike Krzyzewski explained over the weekend that Duke hasn't discussed shutting down the star freshman.

"We would never play a kid who's not ready," Krzyzewski said, per ESPN. "We would never play a youngster who didn't want to play. It's not about that. He wants to play. He loves being at Duke.

"He doesn't like being injured. It's an injury you can get over in a shorter period of time. There's just a protocol that we have to go through to make sure he's completely ready. We're not rushing anything, so that's why we said day to day because it's literally day to day."