‘What do you think?’ Can Hornets’ Brandon Miller return to form after latest injury?
Brandon Miller didn’t waver, providing insight into his mindset.
Despite having his NBA season interrupted for the second time in nine months, the Charlotte Hornets swingman isn’t the least bit worried about returning to the form that propelled him to being selected second overall behind French phenom Victor Wembanyama in 2023.
“What do you think?” Miller said before the Hornets’ 116-112 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center on Tuesday night, turning the tables on the interviewer.
When the interviewer suggested Miller would snap back into himself, Miller smirked.
“There you go,” he said.
Miller, who was joined on the bench by LaMelo Ball for a second straight game while the star guard deals with right ankle impingement, is rehabilitating a left shoulder subluxation sustained in the second game of the season in Philadelphia.
The expectation is that Miller will be reevaluated in two weeks, which puts him on the shelf for at least the next six games and raises the distinct possibility he won’t be available until closer to Thanksgiving. That means, at minimum, he’s going to not suit up in 12 games after sitting out for 55 contests in 2024-25 due to surgery on his right wrist in January.
“He for sure is a big part of our team,” coach Charles Lee told the Observer. “We will definitely miss him. But I’m just happy that Brandon obviously and our whole team now has a little bit of clarity about what it looks like injury-wise, what it looks like timetable-wise for him to come back and play. And so now that we have that clarity, I think the goal is for him to obviously attack his rehab.
“The plan put in front of him is going to be really good and I think an appropriate buildup for him. And we’ll reevaluate in two weeks, and the rest of the team needs to know for the next two weeks this is what our roster looks like. And we got to go out there and we still got to have the same identity that we have and find other ways to try to attack teams.”
Suffering the subluxation , which is a partial dislocation and considered somewhat uncommon — though not rare among professional athletes and especially basketball players — still has Miller somewhat dumbfounded.
He got injured early in the second quarter after extending his arm trying to fight through a screen, slipping simultaneously on his left foot on what appeared to be a wet spot on the floor.
“Yeah, I really couldn’t tell you what happened,” Miller said. “But it’s just a subluxation on the left shoulder. No timeline right now. Just kind of working to get back, get the muscles around it stronger and just go from there.”
Which is precisely what Miller was doing during the Hornets’ morning shootaround. He also worked with the training staff to keep his conditioning in line, running halfcourt sprints.
But Charlotte’s medical and performance staff, led by vice president Pat Chasse, aren’t the only ones in Miller’s ear. Some unsolicited advice came from a relatively trusty source.
“Grant, actually,” Miller said. “Grant Williams, he’s been around for a little minute, has seen this injury. The main thing he’s just been telling me is just his shoulders are broad. Of course, we see how big Grant is. So, everything he’s just been telling me is just kind of what we’ve been doing.
“Just working on building the muscles around it stronger and just keep doing that.”
Still, it’s undoubtedly a lot.
As Miller copes with the emotional aspect of it all, he’s doing his best to stay positive by focusing on some of the things that have him in line to take a leadership leap in his third season.
He remains deeply engaged, ensuring he’s staying mentally sharp.
“I feel like with this year, just got to dig deeper and just move past it, control what you control,” Miller said. “I think taking this small time away, I feel like I can control the energy around the team, and just the effort that everybody puts out and just the mindset of going into every game with trying to get wins on the road, of course. And then while we’re at home, of course, just protect the home court.”
Do that and Miller’s emotional state won’t take a huge hit in the meantime.
“We’ve been winning, so I think that’s keeping the mood up,” Miller said. “Just always being around my guys, you know, they give me the confidence and, you know, all the knowledge to approach each day.
“We’re just attacking it 100% and just getting better. Like I said, getting the muscles around is stronger. So, just continue to do that and soon I’ll be playing.”
LaMelo Ball sits again
Make that two consecutive games missed by Ball.
After sitting out Sunday’s win over Utah nursing a right ankle impingement, the Hornets’ star point guard didn’t play against the Pelicans, instead parked on the Hornets’ bench in team clothes.
Ball initially showed up on the Hornets’ injury report on Friday leading into Saturday night’s loss to Minnesota, which caught some by surprise given he had surgery in the offseason to help correct the issue. But Lee doesn’t seem overly concerned.
“Like I mentioned last time (Saturday),” Lee said, “the goal is just to be able to put all of our players in the best position to be available for as many games as possible. He went through shootaround today, isn’t going to be able to go tonight, obviously. But we’ll just continue to evaluate him every day.
“He’s a little bit better today than he was (Monday) and hopefully that trend continues.”
Miles Bridges: Loss to New Orleans is on myself, vets
Zero.
That’s the number of points the Hornets scored over the final 3 minutes, 22 seconds against New Orleans. The result was a brutal 116-112 loss to the previously winless Pelicans, who were without South Carolina native and Duke product Zion Williamson who is sidelined with a Grade 1 hamstring strain.
“Turnovers, turnovers and we let them get comfortable,” said Miles Bridges, who posted a team-best 22 points. “That’s how they won.”
Bridges went even further in his explanation of what went wrong and why the Hornets (3-5) couldn’t get it done against one of the NBA’s worst teams this season.
“I put that, put that loss on me, Collin (Sexton), Tre (Mann), and all the vets, especially me,” Bridges said. “I got dumb turnovers, taking dumb shots where I should have drove. So, I put that loss on me.”
Lee summed it up by pointing to the disparity between the performances in each quarter.
“I think first half, I’d have loved to see in that first quarter and just the first half our transition defense be a lot tighter,” Lee said. “Gave up too many lobs and dunks in that first half where I think that we can kind of control those buckets. You’re not going to control the fact that they made a couple shots or they were guys that maybe you’re willing to live with some of their contested above the break threes. But those buckets and that execution defensively in transition is just not good enough.
“And I think it gave them a little bit of energy, when you can kind of get out and get some easy buckets. And then I thought in the second quarter, a lot better. Third quarter, really good. And then in that fourth quarter, (Jose) Alvarado and (Derik) Queen just kind of came up with some big buckets down the stretch. And we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball. I think eight turnovers in that fourth quarter, which kind of hurt you and they made you pay.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 9:15 PM.
