Hornets’ Mark Williams continues to rehab back injury: ‘I’ve definitely made progress’
This isn’t how it was supposed to go, certainly not to kick off 2024.
Instead of plugging the middle for the Charlotte Hornets and piggybacking on the end of his solid first season, Mark Williams has been nothing more than a spectator for the past few weeks due to a lower back contusion and it’s taking an exhaustive toll on him mentally.
“Yeah, it definitely sucks to watch, especially with the guys out there fighting hard and some games we could have won that we haven’t,” Williams said Monday. “Yeah, it’s just tough.”
Williams sat out the Hornets’ past 11 games, including Monday night’s 111-93 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. Save for some sporadic pregame activity recently, he hasn’t been spotted on the floor doing anything overly vigorous since exiting the Hornets’ Dec. 8 victory against Toronto.
The 7-footer is experiencing something he’s never felt before and it won’t allow him to do the things he excels at most, leading to frustrating moments. Anyone who’s dealt with back pain understands the uncertainty each day brings.
“Yeah, I can’t move like how I want to move,” Williams said. “It’s still tough for me to jump, (have) quick reaction and stuff. I’ve just started to get back into practice. I’m just trying to get back. That’s probably the biggest thing.”
Williams initially took a shot in the back during the Hornets’ win in New York on Nov. 30 and managed to play through it. Two days later, even against Minnesota’s twin tower frontline composed of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns, he was fine.
Things changed following that Dec. 2 outing, though. He hasn’t been the same since.
“During the Minnesota game, I was dealing with it and it was like, ‘Whatever,’” Williams said. “Then after that game, I was struggling. I didn’t play that Chicago game and then Toronto I tried to give it a go and left the game in the third quarter, didn’t come back.
“I went to the locker room, got an MRI, got a CT (scan), dealing with that strain or whatever again. I’ve been just trying to get back. But yeah, it sucks just to be watching. I’m trying to do everything I can treatment-wise.”
In the meantime, akin to most of his injured teammates like LaMelo Ball, there’s no specific timetable for Williams’ return. That will depend on a couple of things transpiring first, and that can always be tricky with back ailments.
“I have to get through some practices, some two-on-two two stuff at practices, shooting around,” Williams said. “It’s just going to be like a whole day’s thing. It’s not just going to be, ‘Get up and go’ obviously as long as I’ve been out.
“So, we are just trying to figure it out, get healthy. Once it comes down to pain tolerance, I feel like I have a pretty good pain tolerance. But right now I just can’t. I can’t go right now.”
Not having Williams navigating the interior is hurting the Hornets. When he’s on the court, their offensive rating improves by eight points, which is tops on the team. Defensively, their rating increases by 6.6 points — that’s the second best mark on the team — and the plus-14.6 net rating easily ranks as the Hornets’ highest mark.
For comparison, the Hornets’ second-best net rating difference belongs to Gordon Hayward (5.8.). They haven’t won any of their 10 games without Williams. So, his presence is key to the limited success they’ve enjoyed in this lost season.
“If you look at all our numbers,” coach Steve Clifford said, “like our defensive transition the last three games has been a lot better. We are not fouling early as much and there’s different things we are doing better. But size in this league, positional size, is one of the most important elements of being able to play consistently. So, yeah we have definitely missed him. We’ve missed him on both ends of the floor.”
At least Williams’ health is finally trending in the right direction. That’s a start.
“Yeah, I’ve definitely made progress,” Williams said. “I’ve been able to get through some practice days compared to one. When it first happened, I wasn’t able to. So, it’s definitely getting better.”
This story was originally published January 1, 2024 at 3:48 PM.
