The Charlotte Hornets still have every reason to believe Brandon Miller can grow into the kind of player they envisioned when they took him with the second overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. But belief only goes so far. Three years in, the bigger question is whether he can turn that promise into something Charlotte can rely on night after night.
The scoring is there. No one is doubting Miller’s ability to fill it up, and he has already shown he can knock down shots from deep, create his own looks, and take over when things are rolling.
The issue is that the Hornets have not always gotten that version of him. A player who can put up 25 one night and fade the next does not give Charlotte the steady presence it needs, especially when the offense is sputtering.
That inconsistency is the real hurdle. Miller has had enough strong outings to justify why Charlotte valued him so highly, but the next step is stringing those performances together more regularly.
Every scorer has off nights. What the Hornets cannot live with is their potential franchise player disappearing for long stretches when the team needs a lift.
There are other areas where Miller can sharpen his impact, too. He does not need to become a point guard, and Charlotte should not ask him to be one. But there are moments when making the extra pass or creating a cleaner shot for a teammate would help the offense more than forcing a look for himself.
Health matters here as well. Miller has already missed time early in his career, and those absences have made it tougher for Charlotte to get a full read on what he can be.
The Hornets need him on the floor, especially with so many young players still trying to settle in. Head coach Charles Lee recently gave an encouraging update on Miller’s injury.
With LaMelo Ball no longer in Charlotte, the runway is even clearer for Miller to take on a larger role. Kon Knueppel is among the other young players who can help, but Miller is still one of the names Charlotte will lean on when it needs offense. How he handles that responsibility will say plenty about where his game is headed.
The Hornets have already made a major investment in him, and a rough patch is not going to change that. Miller is still young, and the scoring talent that made him such a prized prospect is very much intact.
Still, potential only matters if it shows up consistently on the court. He does not need to become a 30-point-per-game machine. He does need to be someone Charlotte can count on in different ways, whether that means scoring, setting up a teammate, or simply finding a way to help the team win when his shot is not falling.
There is time for that version of Miller to emerge. Charlotte just needs to see more of it, more often.
For now, Brandon Miller can still become the face of the Charlotte Hornets. But having that kind of talent and actually becoming that player are not the same thing.
In Other News...
Hornets' Slow Start Just Reopened The LaMelo Ball Trade Debate
Charlottes uneven start has already pushed the LaMelo Ball trade back into the conversation, and Bill Simmons used his podcast to frame the deal as something that still needs time to breathe. He and co-host Rob Mahoney looked at where the Hornets stand now, with Brandon Millers role part of the broader picture, and argued that the early read on the move is still far too incomplete to settle into a verdict.
The trade sent Ball and Josh Green to Minnesota in exchange for Naz Reid, multiple future draft picks and a trade exception, but the bigger question is how all of it looks once the season settles in. Charlottes 4-7 record has only sharpened the debate around whether the front office got enough back, and the unresolved piece around Reid keeps the discussion from feeling anywhere close to finished. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Return To Phoenix With More At Stake Than Usual
Phoenixs injury report looks far cleaner than Charlottes heading into the next meeting, and that matters for a Hornets team trying to navigate a tricky stretch with bodies still coming and going. Mark Williams is the only Suns player listed out, while Jordan Goodwin has already made his return from injury and was a meaningful factor in the previous game, giving Phoenix a little more stability as the matchup approaches.
Charlotte, meanwhile, arrives with multiple players tagged out or probable, which only adds to the challenge of keeping pace on the road. The game also brings a little extra edge because Grayson Allen and Royce ONeale are set to see Phoenix for the first time since landing in Charlotte, a reminder that this one carries more than the usual regular-season feel for a Hornets group still sorting through its own health concerns. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Face A Real Naz Reid Dilemma In This Trade Debate
A speculative trade idea has put Naz Reid squarely in the middle of a Charlotte debate, even though theres no indication the Hornets and Trail Blazers are actually talking. The proposal imagines Portland sending Scoot Henderson, Yang Hansen and two second-round picks to Charlotte for Reid, which is the kind of framework that forces both sides to weigh fit, timeline and value rather than just talent.
For the Hornets, the appeal is obvious: Reid is the sort of versatile frontcourt piece who can raise the floor of a roster and give the team more lineup flexibility. The problem is making a deal like that work in a way that feels fair to Charlotte while still giving Portland a reason to move on from a young guard and a promising big, and thats where the conversation gets tricky. [Read more 🡒]