Hornets' Grant Williams undergoes knee surgery

Hornets forward Grant Williams has undergone surgery on his right knee to repair multiple torn ligaments, including his ACL, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. According to Charania, Williams is expected to be sidelined for nine to 12 months.

Williams suffered the injury in a Nov. 23 game against Milwaukee. Reporting the next day indicated that the veteran forward had torn his meniscus and other connected ligaments in addition to his ACL and that the injury would keep him on the shelf for the rest of the season.

While it’s no surprise that Williams is done for the season, the recovery timeline reported by Charania suggests that his debut next season could be delayed as well. ACL tears on their own often require upward of a full year in recovery time, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Williams isn’t ready to fully participate in training camp next fall.

While Williams could technically be included in a trade while he’s injured, he’s under contract with the Hornets for two more years beyond this one, so a return to Charlotte is his likeliest outcome for next season. He’ll make $13.65M in 2025-26 and $14.27M in 2026-27 before potentially becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2027.

Charlotte was recently granted a disabled player exception as a result of Williams’ season-ending injury. The Hornets have until March 10 to use the $6.5M exception, which can be used to sign a player to a rest-of-season contract or to acquire a player via trade or waiver if he’s on an expiring deal and his salary fits into the exception.