By Tyler Davidson
Five games into his fourth season and a week after signing a five-year, $209 million extension (the largest in franchise history), Brandon Miller is carrying the Hornets. Charlotte is 3-2 heading into Friday’s game at Washington. Miller has scored 34, a career-high 39 and 31 in his last three games. He has done it with two starters out injured: second-year wing Kon Knueppel and guard Coby White.
Here are three questions Hornets fans are asking, answered from the numbers and the reporting.
1. Is Miller playing at an All-Star level?
The volume says yes. The efficiency isn’t there yet. Through five games, Miller’s ESPN game log shows 25.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks in 33.8 minutes per game. He is shooting 39.0% from the field (46 of 118) and 27.3% from three (15 of 55). By our math, that works out to a true shooting percentage of about 49.6%. Last season he averaged 20.2 points on 43.5% shooting and 38.3% from three, which works out to roughly 57% true shooting.
Compare that with the coaches’ Eastern Conference reserves for the 2026 All-Star Game, using the numbers at the time of selection:
- Jalen Johnson: 23.1 points, 10.5 rebounds and 8.0 assists on 49.9% shooting
- Jalen Duren: 18.0 points and 10.7 rebounds on 63.5% shooting (NBA.com)
- Scottie Barnes: 19.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.6 assists on 50.1% shooting (TSN)
- Brandon Ingram: 21.9 points on 47.2% shooting, and he didn’t make it
Miller is already outscoring that group, but every one of them shot well above 45%. Coaches also rewarded rebounding and playmaking, and Miller’s 1.8 assists a game is the weakest part of his line.
The All-Star talk is real, though, and it started before the season. NBA.com’s season preview named Miller the Hornets’ breakout candidate and said he “is in a position to make the jump to All-Star for the first time in his career.” Writers at Hornets On SI picked him as the Hornet most likely to get there. The same site listed the holes: finishing at the rim, defense and production against elite defenses. Locally, the buzz is growing:
Our take (analysis): Miller is scoring like an All-Star. He isn’t yet shooting like one. If his three-point shot climbs back toward last season’s 38%, the case gets very hard to argue with. We didn’t find a national columnist making the in-season All-Star case yet; it’s early.
2. What changes when Kon Knueppel and Coby White come back?
The facts first. Neither player has suited up this season. The Hornets announced on Sept. 25 that Knueppel suffered a left hamstring injury during offseason on-court work. Grant Williams hurt his right hamstring at the same time. White has been out with a left calf strain, according to the league’s official injury report. All three were ruled out again for Detroit, per Hornets PR.
The timeline: there isn’t an official one. On Monday, coach Charles Lee said there is “no timeline as far as I know right now,” the Observer’s Rod Boone reported. Lee said he would know more after the two-game road trip, which ends Friday in Washington. CBS Sports’ injury page lists all three as “expected to be out until at least Nov 2,” but that is CBS’s estimate, not the team’s.
What they bring. As a rookie last season, Knueppel averaged 18.5 points in 81 games (80 starts) and shot 42.5% from three. White came over from Chicago during last season. In 21 games for Charlotte, all off the bench, he averaged 15.6 points in 19.3 minutes and shot 39.1% from three. Meanwhile, Charlotte has started Dennis Schröder, Sion James, Miller, Naz Reid and Moussa Diabaté in all five games, with Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale and rookie Christian Anderson Jr. among the reserves picking up extra minutes.
Analysis: how Miller’s role changes. Miller is taking 23.6 shots a game, up from 16.1 last season. Last season Knueppel took 13.4 shots a game, and White took 11.0 a game in Charlotte. Those shots have to come from somewhere, so expect Miller’s raw scoring to drop. Here’s the trade-off, though: the two best shooters on the roster would pull defenders away from him. He’s 15 of 55 from three so far, and in Detroit he missed five of his seven shots in the fourth quarter (AP recap). With Knueppel spacing the floor and White running some of the offense, Miller should get cleaner looks, his efficiency should rise, and he may finally rack up more assists. In the rotation, Knueppel would most likely step back into the starting lineup. James or Allen would then become a defensive specialist off the bench, and White would give the second unit the scorer it hasn’t had. All of that is our projection, not team guidance.
3. Why did Naz Reid sit the entire second half in Detroit?
Reid is a Hornet. He came over in the offseason trade that sent LaMelo Ball to Minnesota, after seven seasons with the Timberwolves, and he won the 2023-24 Sixth Man of the Year award. He started Wednesday’s 97-89 loss at Detroit and had seven points on 2-of-6 shooting in 13 minutes. He wasn’t hurt: Hornets On SI confirmed he was available in the second half. He checked out for the last time with 3:19 left in the second quarter and never returned. Charlotte led 51-44 at halftime and lost by eight.
Lee addressed it after the game. “Unfortunately, Naz didn’t meet our standards in the first half, and at halftime we made the decision that he wouldn’t play in the second half,” Lee said, according to the Associated Press. “But I look forward to him meeting those standards come next game.” The AP noted that Lee did not specify which standards Reid failed to meet.
Hornets On SI’s Matt Alquiza went back through the tape. With 4:49 left in the second quarter, Reid looked confused on an “Iverson” set the team has run dozens of times, and Lee looked visibly frustrated. Alquiza cautioned that the moment “obviously wasn’t the sole reason.” Before the game, Lee had praised Reid’s calming presence in the locker room.
Our take (opinion): Benching a veteran starter for a full half of a winnable road game sends a message. For a young team trying to build a culture, that may be worth one loss. Still, the Hornets went from up seven to down eight without him. The real test is Friday in Washington: does Reid start, and does the message stick?
Up next: Hornets at Washington on Friday at 7 p.m., then home against Philadelphia on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Spectrum Center.
Sources: ESPN game log (Miller); ESPN player stats for Knueppel and White; NBA.com (extension); NBA.com season preview; NBA.com All-Star reserves; NBA.com first-time All-Stars; TSN; Hornets On SI (1, 2, 3); NBA official injury report, Oct. 27; Hornets.com player pages (Knueppel, White); CBS Sports injuries; AP (also via FOX Sports); ESPN; AP game recap. True shooting % is our calculation from the ESPN box scores. Featured photo: Matthew D. Britt / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
