Brandon Miller, Hornets Agree to 5-Year, $209M Extension

Brandon Miller is staying in Charlotte, and now it's official. The Hornets and Miller agreed to a five-year, $209 million rookie-scale extension on Monday, his agents AJ Vaynerchuk and Joey Middleton of VaynerSports told ESPN's Shams Charania, beating the deadline by roughly an hour. By Monday evening the deal was on the NBA's transaction log.

That works out to $41.8 million a year for the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft, who is in the last season of a four-year, $49.4 million rookie deal. Had the clock run out, Miller would have played this season on that contract and hit restricted free agency next summer.

Where the Brandon Miller deal ranks

The number is $1 million more than the five-year, $208 million extension Amen Thompson signed with the Rockets. It also tops the five-year, $200 million deal Detroit gave Jalen Duren. Among this year's rookie-scale extensions, only Victor Wembanyama's max with the Spurs is bigger.

Miller is the seventh player from the 2023 class to get an extension, joining Wembanyama, both Thompson twins, Keyonte George, Brandin Podziemski and Cason Wallace, who signed with the Thunder on Sunday night.

Why Charlotte paid up

The on/off split is the whole pitch. The Hornets went 41-24 with Miller in the lineup last season and 3-14 without him. He averaged 20.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.0 steal in 30.3 minutes over 65 games, shooting 43.5% from the field, 38.3% from three and 89.2% at the line.

That came after a left shoulder subluxation in the second game of the season cost him the next 13 games. He played through it the rest of the way, had surgery on the shoulder in May to fix the instability, and was back for three preseason games this fall.

Charlotte had already made its bet in the summer. The Hornets traded LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to Minnesota for Naz Reid and picks, and also moved Miles Bridges. Last year's team beat Miami in the play-in before losing to Orlando, one win short of the franchise's first playoff trip since 2016. Now it's Miller's team, alongside Kon Knueppel.

"Brandon, I think everyone would agree he's an enormous talent," Hornets executive vice president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson said this summer, adding that Miller "has a true desire to win and continue to get better."

What's next for Miller and the Hornets

The extension kicks in for the 2027-28 season. The real stuff starts Wednesday, when the Hornets open at the Nets at Barclays Center (7:30 p.m. ET). Knueppel missed all of preseason with a hamstring issue and new point guard Coby White has dealt with a calf strain, with no official word on either for the opener.

Fantasy lean: if Knueppel and White are limited early, Miller's usage should be the first thing to jump.

He dropped 25 points and seven assists on Brooklyn in last season's opener. Do it again Wednesday and the $209 million starts looking like a bargain.