Marvin Williams joins Charlotte Hornets staff

Former Charlotte Hornets forward Marvin Williams has joined the organization in a basketball operations role, as first reported by Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer.

Williams, who spent parts of six seasons with the Charlotte Hornets during his playing career, now reunites with Steve Clifford, who coached him from 2014-15 until 2017-18.  A consummate professional during his career, Williams will now look to impart the wisdom from his playing days to the current roster as a part of his new player development role.

A native of Bremerton, Washington, Williams won a national championship with the North Carolina Tar Heels in his lone collegiate season before entering the NBA draft. Notably, Williams did not start a single game for the Tar Heels, instead making his way as an excellent sixth man on the way to taking home ACC Rookie of the Year honors. While at North Carolina, he was teammates with Raymond Felton and Sean May, both of whom would be drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2005 NBA draft.

Williams, meanwhile, was drafted with the second overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks. After seven seasons in Atlanta, Williams was traded the Utah Jazz during the 2012 offseason. He would spend two seasons in Utah before signing with the Hornets in 2014. Ironically, Charlotte pivoted to Williams after the Jazz matched Charlotte’s offer sheet for restricted free agent and current Charlotte forward Gordon Hayward. After being bought out by Charlotte in February of 2020, Williams joined the Milwaukee Bucks for what would turn out to be the final 17 games of his career.

Williams posted averages of 9.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 436 games with the Charlotte Hornets, including seven games in the playoffs. His 436 games played are good for eight-most in franchise history; only Dell Curry, Muggsy Bogues, Kemba Walker, Cody Zeller, Bismack Biyombo, Gerald Wallace, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist have appeared in more games for the Charlotte Hornets.