Mark Williams to miss Hornets training camp with foot injury

Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams will sit out training camp and the start of preseason because of a strained tendon in his left foot, the team announced Friday.

Williams sustained the injury in a workout Thursday. He will be reevaluated in two weeks.

The 15th overall pick out of Duke in the 2022 NBA draft, Williams averaged 12.7 points and 9.7 rebounds in just 19 games last season. He didn’t play after Dec. 8 because of a back injury.

When healthy, Williams is expected to be the starting center in Charlotte for new coach Charles Lee, who was hired this summer after helping the Boston Celtics win the NBA title. It also is the first full season for new executive vice president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson, whom the team hired in March after he spent the previous four-plus seasons with the Brooklyn Nets.

Both moves were the first significant changes from the new ownership group led by Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin, who bought the Hornets from Michael Jordan last August.