Monday was the deadline for rookie-scale contract extensions. Charlotte’s Brandon Miller was the biggest name from the 2023 NBA draft class who had yet to agree to terms on a new deal.
As the deadline moved closer, the Hornets got a deal done with Miller and avoided a restricted free agency saga next summer. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Miller agreed to a five-year, $209 million rookie-scale contract extension, which ties him to the franchise through the 2031–32 season.
Over the offseason, Charlotte’s chief decision maker Jeff Peterson decided to completely turn over the roster. The Hornets traded franchise point guard LaMelo Ball to the Timberwolves, then sent Miles Bridges to the Suns. Key rotation players went back to the Hornets like Naz Reid, Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale. Also arriving in Charlotte was a haul of draft capital and financial flexibility to reshape the team by moving off of Ball’s contract, which runs through 2028–29.
On the surface, the big trades were a confusing series of moves. The Hornets were one of the NBA’s best teams after the All-Star break last season and finished just one win short of the playoffs after they dropped a play-in tournament game against the Magic for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot. That loss left a bad taste, but Charlotte seemed primed to take the next step sooner rather than later. Peterson made the big offseason trades for the future, though, and made the moves he thinks will take the franchise from a borderline playoff team to a contender.
“When you look at the totality of the season and where we were, it's important to take an honest look in the mirror at where our guys are as a team, and that's what I did at the end of the season,” Peterson said in July after the Ball trade. “It just felt like... The goal isn't to get to the play-in, or even the playoffs in one year. I've said it plenty of times since I've been here in Charlotte. The goal is to get to the playoffs and stay there for a long time, and eventually contend and compete for championships.
Reid is a key player who will help immediately, plus Coby White was signed to a three-year deal to help conduct the offense. But the Hornets are officially Miller and Kon Knueppel’s team with the departure of Ball and Bridges. After an incredible rookie season, Knueppel won’t be extension eligible until 2028, two offseasons from now.
Miller had a strong season last year where he averaged 20.2 points per game, the most on the team and just ahead of Ball. With a $200-plus million commitment, however, the pressure is now on him to prove he can be the top option of a contending Hornets team.
Brandon Miller has a lot on the line this season, even after huge contract extension with Hornets
Miller’s $209 million extension is more than any player from his draft class other than Victor Wembanyama. Houston’s Amen Thompson signed a five-year, $208 million extension back in July and Miller inches just past that. Wembanyama signed a five-year, $255.2 million deal with the Spurs, which was a team-friendly number so San Antonio can keep a competitive roster around him as his salary grows. He’s in a different stratosphere and Miller wasn’t expected to get anything close to that, but the fact that he got a bigger contract than anyone other than Wemby says that the Hornets front office thinks Miller can be their guy.
He will make up just above 20% of the team’s cap sheet throughout the course of the deal, which leaves plenty of room for Charlotte to eventually pay Knueppel and improve the roster around the two. Still, it’s a considerable deal that bets on Miller’s future development. He’s now under contract longer than any other Hornet and will become the team’s highest-paid player once the extension kicks in next season. The team will have room to chase another star, especially while Knueppel is still on his rookie contract. However, they should only do so if Miller proves he’s capable of operating as a top option on a playoff team.
He had a good year last season and, most importantly, stayed healthy after he missed the majority of his second NBA season due to a wrist injury. He was a solid three-point shooter on high volume as he connected on 38.3% of his 8.2 attempts from deep per game. As a unit, the Hornets shot the lights out from three. They made more treys than any team, which Miller was a big part of. However, Knueppel and Ball were too. Knueppel led the NBA in total three-pointers with 273, while Ball was one behind. Miller finished 21st in made threes at 204. Over 200 made triples was a great finish, but you have to wonder whether part of that was due to the spacing the team had and the gravity Ball brought.
There’s another level that Miller will need to get to for Charlotte to turn into a contender with him at the center of the operation. He has yet to make an All-Star team, yet to earn All-NBA honors and yet to play true postseason basketball (unless you count last season’s play-in games). Any of those could happen in the near future, especially with the roster changes that left him and Knueppel as the top options. But does Miller have what it takes to grow into what Jayson Tatum is for the Celtics or what Donovan Mitchell is for the Cavaliers?
“Miller could be a great small forward if he develops the work ethic to be that,” an anonymous NBA scout told Sports Illustrated ahead of the upcoming NBA season. “I look at him and I don’t see the physical development. I don’t see the work in the weight room. If you're going to match up against NBA small forwards, you have to get stronger. He wants to be like Tatum and those types of guys, but you have to put on muscle and weight for that. So I think he wants it, but I don't know if he's willing to do what it takes to get to it.”
He’s shown the scoring chops and is pretty efficient at all levels, but he could grow as a playmaker to unlock his game further. White will take a majority of the creation duties, but Charlotte will need secondary playmaking and could use Miller creating more easy looks for his teammates as he gets more defensive attention.
That’s not to say he can’t grow as a scorer, too. Miller’s scoring totals are great, but not at the level of a true star and solid No. 1 option. His 20.2 points per game last year ranked 29th in the league, just behind players like LeBron James, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Alperen Şengün. All great players, some even All-Stars, but none were their team’s top option last season. Without Ball and Bridges, the opportunity is there for Miller to take a stranglehold on the title of the Hornets’ franchise player.
His rookie-scale extension pays him like it and it could even turn out to be a bargain for Charlotte if all goes that way. But Miller has to prove it in his new role, which begins once the Hornets take the floor for the first time this season Wednesday against the Nets.
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