Charlotte Hornets heading to Triangle for NBA training camp, team bonding. Here’s where

Turns out Mark Williams’ days practicing in Duke University’s Michael W. Krzyzewski Center aren’t over, after all.

The Charlotte Hornets on Thursday announced plans to conduct training camp at Duke next month, meaning Williams will once again be a big man on the Durham campus — just not in Blue Devils’ colors. The Hornets will begin their 2024-25 season prep with practices from October 1-4.

It’s the first time the Hornets will hold camp away from the Novant Health Training Center since 2019, when they spent four days on the other end of Tobacco Road at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill.

Charlotte is setting up shop in Duke’s 56,000-square foot indoor athletic facility, which also housed the Brooklyn Nets’ training camps in 2013 and 2015 thanks to the pull of former Blue Devils forward Billy King, who was then the team’s general manager.

With a new regime in place, including a first-year head coach in Charles Lee, and the ongoing renovations at Spectrum Center finishing up, the Hornets hierarchy decided it would be best to start laying the foundation for the upcoming campaign in a team-building environment.

Perhaps being back in familiar surroundings will spur Williams in a positive direction as he makes his highly anticipated return after missing bulk of his second season with a nagging lower back injury. The 22-year-old, who starred at Duke for two years before the Hornets acquired him in a 2022 draft day trade, told The Observer in July that he’s motivated to get back to his old form and beyond.

Williams’ health, along with LaMelo Ball’s, is among several keys necessary for the Hornets to snap the NBA’s longest postseason drought.

“I can appreciate concern,” Williams said. “I can understand where they are coming from. Last year wasn’t the year we wanted to have. Me being in a good place, Melo being in a good place, all that is looking bright. We are excited and just ready for Game 1.”

That journey toward their season opener in Houston on Oct. 23 officially begins in earnest in less than three weeks. The Hornets’ roster stands at 19 with the additions Marcus Garrett, Keyontae Johnson, Caleb McConnell and Joel Soriano.