The LaMelo Ball trade has been in the books for 40 days, but the conversation around it clearly hasn’t cooled off in Charlotte.
Brandon Miller is the latest Hornets voice to weigh in, and he didn’t hide how much the move stung. Speaking on The Road Trippin Show, Miller opened up about losing a teammate he had known from the start and pushed back on the way Ball’s leadership was portrayed.
“It’s tough, man. It’s tough going through trade deadline.
Seeing your brothers from day one gone, it hurts, but I think we all know the NBA game," Miller stated. "I know he will be great in Minnesota and what they have going on there.
Of course, he still has a lot to learn. I feel like everybody that’s that young has a lot to learn, so just excited to see his growth.
I was excited for him last year with his leadership growth. I feel like the media had him looking crazy a lot of times.
He was looked at as not a good leader.”
When asked if he could say something about that, he said, "Of course!"
Miller’s comments fit a familiar pattern around Ball, whose game has often drawn attention for the wrong reasons. The shot selection and the occasional wild decision-making have been easy targets, but Miller’s view was different: Ball’s approach never looked like a lack of care or a lack of accountability.
The Hornets are moving forward without Ball’s flashy style, but the roster still has plenty of offensive talent. Miller, Kon Knueppel, and Coby White give Charlotte a lot of firepower in the backcourt.
Knueppel led the NBA in three-point shooting as a rookie, but Miller is still widely seen as the player who has been handed the keys to the organization. He still has work to do as a shot creator and needs to broaden his shot diet, but that growth feels more realistic for him than it does for Knueppel.
No matter who ends up being viewed as the new face of the franchise, Charlotte’s young sharpshooting group will have to keep rising if the Hornets want to become a real threat in the East.
In Other News...
Hornets Still Have A Tough Roster Squeeze Coming
The Hornets are facing the kind of late-summer roster problem that usually gets sorted only after the rest of the league starts settling in. Charlotte has more players than available standard spots, so the front office still has work to do before opening night, and the pressure only increases when other teams around the league are stuck in their own offseason limbo.
One of those logjams is happening in Cleveland, where the Cavaliers are reportedly waiting on the restricted free agent market while they pursue Jonathan Kuminga and Peyton Watson, a situation that could slow down James Harden's re-signing as well. For Charlotte, the bigger point is simpler: there are still decisions coming, and the Hornets will have to trim the group at some point while Derrick Williams has already taken his career overseas by signing with the Seoul Samsung Thunders in South Korea. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Just Made Their Direction Impossible For Fans To Ignore
The Hornets spent the offseason making their intentions plain, tearing down a familiar core and leaning hard into a younger, more flexible roster. Trading LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to Minnesota and sending Miles Bridges to Phoenix signaled a clear reset, while the additions of Hannes Steinbach and Christian Anderson Jr., along with the re-signing of Coby White and the arrival of Dorian Finney-Smith, gave Charlotte a very different look heading into the next phase.
Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel now sit at the center of that plan, with the front office showing confidence that this is the group to build around. For fans, the message is hard to miss: the Hornets are no longer trying to patch together the old version of the team, and the success of this direction will depend on how quickly the new young pieces can grow into something more than just a promise. [Read more 🡒]
Kon Knueppel Just Gave Hornets Fans Another Reason To Believe
Kon Knueppel is already giving Hornets fans plenty to be excited about, and now he has a little video-game validation to go with it. 2K Games released select player ratings for NBA 2K27, and the Charlotte forward landed as the second-highest three-point shooter in the group, trailing only Steph Curry. His three-point rating jumped to 94 from 85 in NBA 2K26, a sharp rise that tracks with the kind of shooting touch he showed during a strong rookie season.
For a young Hornets team looking for signs that its core is moving in the right direction, the boost is more than just a rating screen curiosity. It reflects how quickly Knueppel has gone from promising first-year contributor to a player opponents have to account for well beyond the arc, and it adds another layer to the belief that Charlotte may have found a real perimeter weapon. There is still plenty of real basketball ahead before any of this matters in the standings, but it is the kind of early affirmation Hornets fans tend to notice. [Read more 🡒]