Brandon Miller makes All-NBA Rookie First Team
By Evan Sidery
Brandon Miler put together one of the best rookie seasons in recent memory for the Charlotte Hornets. The No. 2 overall pick from the 2023 NBA Draft averaged 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting 37.3 percent on three-pointers.
Alongside LaMelo Ball, there’s no denying that Miller is an entrenched long-term pillar to the Hornets’ hopeful future success.
On Monday, the NBA announced Miller made NBA All-Rookie First Team. The players who joined Miller are Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs), Chet Holmgren (Oklahoma City Thunder), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Miami Heat) and Brandin Podziemski (Golden State Warriors).
On All-Rookie Second Team, here were the following players selected: Dereck Lively (Dallas Mavericks), GG Jackson (Memphis Grizzlies), Keyonte George (Utah Jazz), Amen Thompson (Houston Rockets) and Cason Wallace (Oklahoma City Thunder).
In recent Hornets history, Miller became the first rookie since Ball in 2020 to receive All-Rookie First Team honors. Although Ball won Rookie of the Year, Miller still put together eye-opening production, especially post-All-Star break.
Charlotte is hopeful that Miller uses his sophomore campaign to take an even larger step forward as a primary scorer and secondary creator to pair with Ball. There’s no reason to believe why Miller’s points total can’t jump to 20-plus points per game to go with a noticeable jump in overall efficiency as well.
Throughout the offseason, Miller has been mentioned with Ball as the Hornets’ franchise pieces. Not only did ownership and management say this — which included co-owners Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin, plus new GM Jeff Peterson — but Miller really took the bull by the horns over the last few months of the regular season as a young leader in their locker room.
The future is shining extremely bright for Charlotte, and Miller’s excellent rookie season was certainly one of the reasons why. Miller is motivated for the Hornets never to endure another year of piling up losses.
“You go weeks of losing, and that’s not a fun thing,” Miller said at his end-of-season availability last month. “We’ll look back and motivate ourselves off that. We must have the mindset that we can win every game, even if people say we can’t. Every game, you’re going to see me go out there and give it all I’ve got. Make all the winning plays, do everything I can to pull out a win, and help my team get better every day.”