Brandon Miller stays at 3rd in NBA's rookie ladder
By Ben Handler
The latest edition of the NBA’s Kia Rookie Ladder came out on Wednesday, and Brandon Miller of the Hornets held onto his position in third place. Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs continues to hold down the top spot on the list, while the Thunder’s Chet Holmgren held steady in second.
Wemby and Chet are two rare rookies who are performing at an absurd level while featuring prominently for their teams. Barring injury, it’s a near certainty that the two young centers will hold down the top 2 spots for the entire season, and finish first and second, in some order, for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year Award.
But Miller continues to play very well and climb up these rookie rankings. Last week, he finally surpassed Jaime Jaquez Jr. of the Heat for 3rd, and he held strong this week, partially due to a 29-point showing against the Knicks.
Steve Aschburner, the writer of the Rookie Ladder for NBA.com, even suggested that Brandon is likely to win the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honor for January (the previous two awards had gone to Jaquez Jr.).
After the publishing of the Rookie Ladder, Miller put up another solid showing, scoring 21 points in a home loss to the Bulls. He’s now scored 20+ points in six out of his last eight games after returning from a brief injury absence.
Why should Hornets fans care?
Staying in the third position is also relevant for Miller because there are only three spots on the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award ballot. Even if he does make it onto the ballot, Miller will almost definitely finish a distant third.
But still, it’s nice to see the player who the Hornets used the #2 overall pick on looking like a future star and getting a sliver of recognition (and let’s face it, the bar for success in Charlotte is as low as it gets right now).
This story, of course, comes on the heels of Miller being named to the NBA’s Panini Rising Stars event in Indianapolis as a part of All-Star weekend. Miller was one of 11 rookies selected to participate in the mini-tournament, which will take place on Friday, February 16th at 9 PM EST on TNT.