Injury Prevents Former Duke Basketball Big Man's Breakout Season

Duke basketball product Mark Williams hasn't played since early December and is out for at least another month.

Photo credit: Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Mark Williams looked like a formidable double-double machine across the first six weeks of his sophomore NBA campaign. At the time, the former two-year Duke basketball center was a full-time Charlotte Hornets starter. Through 19 games, he was averaging 12.7 points and 9.7 rebounds while shooting 64.9 percent from the field.

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But a few outings after sustaining a hit to the back in late November, the 22-year-old began showing up on the injury report. And he's been there ever since while rehabbing from the lingering setback.

As All Hornets on SI.com reported on Friday, Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak gave a seemingly frustrating update on the 7-foot, 240-pound Williams, who came off the board at No. 15 overall to the Hornets at the 2022 NBA Draft following his sensational sophomore season in Mike Krzyzewski's final year on the Duke basketball throne.

"It is taking longer [than initially expected]," Kupchak said about Mark Williams' recovery. "He did see a specialist within the last week. It just takes some time, and he expects 100 percent a return to play. So, there's nothing here that's going to create a problem for his career going forward.

"Our next update would be probably four weeks or something like that...I can't say I expect him to play four weeks from now. Yeah, it's taking longer than we thought, and it's not just a contusion, where you just get hit and you get a bruise. It's a little bit more than that, and it's just going to take some time to heal."

For now, Charlotte (10-41) remains a candidate to finish with the worst record in the NBA.

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