For months, the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft has been a foregone conclusion. No one was getting drafted ahead of Victor Wembanyama, but the question of who would follow him at No. 2 was surrounded in much more uncertainty.
Now, the Hornets have settled on their choice: it’s Brandon Miller.
Miller, a 6’9” wing whose one-and-done year at Alabama earned him the SEC Player of the Year award, pairs his long, athletic frame with a polished offensive game that’s drawn comparisons to Paul George. Just 20 years old, his lean frame will likely need to add some muscle going forward, but he possesses an already-advanced skillset that should allow him to find success early on in his career. Miller’s involvement in a Tuscaloosa shooting committed by a former college teammate that left a woman killed caused a dark cloud that loomed over Alabama’s season, though Miller was never charged with a crime.
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The Hornets finished last season at 27–55, the fourth-worst record in the league and their worst mark in 10 years. The franchise is in a state of transition as owner Michael Jordan is in the process of selling the team to an ownership group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall.
Since the franchise returned as an expansion team in 2004 following the relocation of the now-Pelicans from Charlotte to New Orleans, the Hornets have never advanced past the first round of the playoffs.
