Brandon Miller is already looking ahead to a Charlotte season that feels very different from the one that just ended.
The Hornets forward said he believes the team will be “dangerous” in 2026-27 after a busy offseason that reshaped the roster around him and Kon Knueppel. Miller’s view is that Charlotte added enough around that duo to help the group “outcompete everybody.”
The front office certainly stayed active. Charlotte traded LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid, dealt Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns for Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale, drafted Hannes Steinbach from Washington with the 14th overall pick and Texas Tech's Christian Anderson Jr. with the 18th overall pick in this year's draft, re-signed Coby White and acquired Dorian-Finney Smith from the Houston Rockets.
That work points toward a new starting group next season of White, Miller, Knueppel, Reid and Moussa Diabaté.
With Ball gone, Miller and Knueppel are now positioned as the faces of the franchise. Hornets president of basketball operations and general manager Jeff Peterson told Marc J. Spears of Andscape that he was comfortable making the Ball deal because of what those two can become.
"I’m very comfortable," Peterson said. "[Hornets head coach] Charles [Lee] and I had a conversation with both of them knowing that these trades can be challenging.
Sometimes I do think we forget that we’re human beings dealing with this stuff - lives and its emotions. Those guys are friends and they are in the locker room every day.
At the same time, Charles and I kind of explained, We believe in you guys, too. You guys are here.
We want to continue to see you guys grow. This is going to challenge you guys.
You guys got to continue to get better.' We wouldn’t have made that trade if we didn’t feel comfortable with what they can continue to be developing into."
Knueppel’s rookie year gave Charlotte plenty to build on even without a Rookie of the Year trophy. He averaged 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 47.5% from the field, 42.5% from 3 and 86.3% from the free-throw line, and he led the NBA in 3s.
Miller also kept moving forward last season, playing in 65 games and posting 20.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. He shot 43.5% from the field, 38.3% from beyond the arc and 89.2% from the free-throw line.
Charlotte has not reached the playoffs since 2016, so the next step will be whether this new-look group can finally push into the postseason in the first year after Ball.
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 🡒]