One of the biggest questions the Charlotte Hornets will have to answer this offseason is what to do with Mark Williams. Bidding him farewell, bringing in a temporary replacement from the Phoenix Suns, and then welcoming him back not long after has left the team with some redundancies on the roster.
The Hornets were probably already trying to figure out their next steps for the summer after completing the now-infamous deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. But the reversal of the trade has left them with three centers on the roster, with Jusuf Nurkic appearing to have locked the backup spot behind Williams and Moussa Diabate left with no choice but to bide his time again despite being one of the team's leaders in games played this season.
Among the three, only William looks like a bona fide starter. Nurkic will turn 31 in the offseason, so he doesn't fit Charlotte's timeline as a core player. Meanwhile, Diabate has shown flashes of being a solid two-way big man and has displayed a no-nonsense attitude that Charlotte sorely needs, but he looks more like an energy guy off the bench than a full-time starting pivot.
Hornets might move on from Mark Williams a second time
Logically speaking, it might make sense for the Hornets to hang onto Williams and treat him as a foundational player as they had seemingly done before this year's trade deadline.
However, the issues that have hounded the third-year pro are still present. His motor has been put into question a ton, and his injury concerns might continue to linger until he proves capable of playing a significant percentage of a regular season in the future.
The good news is that his recent string of strong performances might disprove the negative perceptions surrounding him.
Williams has averaged 17.3 points. 12.2 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per contest while shooting 64.7 percent from the field and 80.0 percent at the charity stripe in his previous nine appearances. Perhaps what's more impressive is that he has missed just one game within that stretch.
The Duke University product has also been impressive in some areas of his defense. His rim protection and coverage of ball-handlers have made a leap in the 2024-25 campaign, although he is still lacking in isolation plays and defensive switches.
Even so, the writing on the wall says that Williams would be shipped to a different home in the summer. Finishing the remainder of the regular season on a positive note can increase his trade value and maybe allow the Hornets to receive a package that would be better than what they were supposed to get from Los Angeles.
Would that bode well for the franchise, though? Finding a center who can produce at the level that Williams does is a bit difficult nowadays. On the other hand, the answer to that question heavily hinges on whether he gets a clean bill of health or not.