Brandon Miller has suddenly become the kind of player the Charlotte Hornets can point to as an award favorite, but that doesn’t mean the path to Most Improved Player is going to be smooth.
Miller is sitting at +800 on FanDuel to win the 2026-27 award, which puts him ahead of Dylan Harper at +1100. On paper, the case is easy to see.
The Hornets were a surprisingly good team last season, and Miller is now the new face of the franchise. He’s moving from second option to the guy on offense, and that should naturally push his numbers up.
That’s exactly why he’s being talked about as a logical MIP pick. The award has always had a messy reputation, but it often ends up going to the player who makes the biggest leap in production, whether that jump was expected or not.
NBA insider Mo Dakhil went with Miller for that reason. "He's gonna get a bigger opportunity now with LaMelo gone.
He's gonna get more reps on the ball. He's gonna show more of what he can do with the ball in his hands more often.
They're going to need him to do a lot more offensively," he said.
Still, there’s a real reason Miller may fall short even if he puts up the kind of season that gets him into the conversation. Zach Lowe pointed to the problem directly: voters may not be watching enough Hornets basketball to fully appreciate what Miller is doing.
"Charlotte's surge last year coincided exactly with Brandon Miller getting healthy and getting a consistently available 20 PTS, 5 REB, 3 AST last year. My hesitation with selecting him was that a lot of the voters are just stats-driven. They're not gonna watch 40 Hornets games," Lowe said.
That’s the downside of the LaMelo Ball trade. However people want to judge it - whether as a smart move for the future, a sign Ball wasn’t the elite piece Charlotte needed, or a premature surrender after what may have been the franchise’s best season by some advanced metrics - there’s no arguing that Ball brought the kind of attention the Hornets could use.
He was the team’s box office draw. Even before the Hornets caught fire, analysts like Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons were talking about how fun they were to watch, and Ball was the center of it.
Now he’s gone, and his new team landed a Christmas Day game. The Hornets, meanwhile, are still the only team that has never played on December 25. The Timberwolves have 27 nationally televised games; the Hornets have six.
That matters because Miller may have the kind of numbers that catch the eye, but the Hornets are far less likely to be in front of voters on a regular basis. If this race turns into a numbers contest, that could open the door for Harper, since the San Antonio Spurs are going to be seen a whole lot more.
So Miller’s rise comes with a catch. His role should expand, and his production should follow. But Charlotte’s reduced spotlight may make it harder for that leap to get the attention it deserves.
In Other News...
Hornets Face A Big Brandon Miller Decision At The Worst Time
Brandon Millers offseason has already become one of the more consequential storylines for Charlotte, and not just because the Hornets are preparing to lock in one of the franchises foundational young pieces. The expectation is that the team will finalize a rookie-scale extension before the deadline, a move that would underscore how central Miller is to the organizations plans as it continues to build around its young core.
The complication is timing. Miller is still rehabbing after left shoulder surgery for instability and has not yet been cleared for basketball activities, which makes the next stretch more delicate than the usual extension discussion. In a recent interview, he focused on recovery, readiness and the value of being available, while also stressing that the work has to be shared across the roster, a reminder that Charlottes optimism about the future is still tied to getting this part right. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets May Need One Player To Keep Their Defense From Slipping
Charlottes defensive rise last season was not just about Charles Lees system. It also had a lot to do with the way Moussa Diabat stabilized the middle after moving into the starting lineup, giving the Hornets a big man who could rebound, stay out of foul trouble and hold up as a rim protector while fitting the scheme in different ways. His presence helped the team look sturdier possession to possession, which mattered for a club that needed real defensive wins to keep games from getting away.
Now the question is whether that same backbone is there again. The Hornets are expected to lean on Diabat this season because the other center options come with clear defensive limitations, and he is the one big on the roster who can handle multiple coverages without forcing the rest of the group to adjust around him. If he misses a step, Charlottes defense could start to look a lot less forgiving. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Latest Roster Move Is Really About Something Bigger
The Hornets made another quiet roster adjustment, signing free agent forward Trey Townsend and waiving forward Josiah Allick as the organization continues sorting out the back end of its lineup. For Charlotte, moves like this are as much about the G League pipeline as the NBA roster, and Townsend fits that familiar pattern for a team trying to keep development options open while preserving flexibility.
Townsends deal is non-guaranteed, and the expectation is that he will be cut loose before the season and head to Greensboro. The Swarm already hold his returning rights after an August six-team trade, which makes this less a true shuffle of roster spots than another step in the Hornets broader system-building approach, one that keeps promising pieces close even when they are not quite ready for the main stage. [Read more 🡒]