The Number One Thing the Charlotte Hornets Must Avoid in 2024-25

If one trend continues, the Hornets will be in trouble this season.

David Banks-Imagn Images

Injuries, injuries, injuries, and more injuries. That's been the story of the Charlotte Hornets over the course of the last two seasons. It wiped away any momentum the team was building with consecutive appearances in the play-in tournament in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Since the start of the 2022 season, LaMelo Ball has missed 106 games and Cody Martin 129, while Mark Williams played in just 19 games last year thanks to a back injury.

"We've been kind of snake-bitten injury-wise, but we got to do all of our work early," head coach Charles Lee said during the middle of a Summer League game in Las Vegas. "That's why this offseason's been really important for us, as we start to revamp our training staff as well, to make sure that these guys are physically in a good space... physically and mentally, to be honest."

The organization underwent a massive change in the training staff, hiring ten new individuals to help fix the Hornets' injury situation.

The physical demands of professional basketball will be addressed by Anthony Barry, the head athletic performance coach, Harrison Herman, the head of rehabilitation, Oluremi Famodu-Jackson, the performance dietitian, Cassidy Papa, the physical therapist, and Harjiv Singh, the senior performance & development scientist.

The last thing the Hornets can afford to have happen is LaMelo Ball, Mark Williams, or any key member of this roster missing a boatload of games once again. The roster is already at a disadvantage compared to others in the Eastern Conference and one injury could derail the Hornets' postseason hopes.

Charlotte dished out a max contract to Ball last July and every injury he suffers where he's out several weeks at a time is just money down the drain. He told reporters at the end of last season that he wants to play in 75+ games in 2024-25 and it may take that for Charlotte to truly be in the conversation come next spring.