How I Changed My Own Mind on Brandon Miller's Extension in Charlotte

Brandon Miller and his extension are the talk of Charlotte right now. Despite the mixed opinions from Hornets fans, it’s far from the most controversial rookie extension there’s ever been.

While small, I think that matters. I’ll go over a potential less-than-max, we-still-value-you type of deal on Miller shortly, but this feels important.

Whichever side of the fence you land on in the Hornetsphere for Miller’s max extension, and whether you’re a proponent of giving it to him or not…

The lack of MAJOR controversy, at least, matters because whatever Charlotte decides on his contract, I don’t anticipate any shouts of, “Fire Jeff Peterson!” or, “Miller just got the worst contract in the league!” after this is all said and done.

I don’t believe there’s a world, barring a (crossing both of my fingers and all of my toes) major injury, where the league views this as poorly as they do the Nuggets’ Christian Braun’s 125 million-dollar deal, for example.

That’s the worst type of middle ground to be in at the ends of these top draft-pick rookie contracts… one where it doesn’t feel like you win when you extend them. Whatever the Hornets decide, it feels like they’ve won regardless.

It seems to me the issue of Brandon Miller getting the max or not doesn’t even have much to do with his potential at all, and I think that’s why we won’t see too many angry shouters regardless of the decision Charlotte Hornets GM Jeff Peterson makes.

The worry about Brandon’s pocket comes, in my eyes, from fans who don't want the front office to botch a potential window where cap space is plenty for Charlotte in a league where most have little.

Your starting center is making just under 2.5 million dollars next year, and your starting 3 in Kon Knueppel is on a rookie contract.

I believe I’ve come to the light on the fact that Charlotte can still take advantage of those clean books even if they pay Miller ~ 200 million, give or take 15 million or so on either side of 200.

I’ve brought myself around on Miller, even in the worst case, where he gets the 250-275 million-dollar max.

The cap room will still be there for the Hornets to operate as I said, and if Charlotte gets him anywhere less than max value? I think it’s got to be considered a win.

Past 2026-2027… In 2027-2028, Charlotte’s current payroll — before Miller’s extension — doesn’t extend any farther past LaMelo Ball, Kon Knueppel, Tidjane Salaun, Sion James, Liam McNeeley, and Ryan Kalkbrenner. Tre Mann will only be on the books for that season if Charlotte picks up his team option, which I’m not anticipating.

All of the above, outside of LaMelo Ball, would be on rookie money still in that year. Even with two max players in that ‘27-’28 year, if they extend Miller, they’d still have so much flexibility.

Moussa Diabate isn’t extension eligible until February of 2027 in the middle of next season, but he’ll likely be amongst the few other tied-down players on that ‘27-’28 roster, along with Coby White being a likely member, too.

Even with all of these players tied up, they’d still be a good bit under the Salary Cap, and still would have the aforementioned cap space left, and a full mid-level exception in the summer before ‘27-’28 before they’d even be worried about activating the new First Apron.

More on the new First Apron later.

If they do it and extend Miller this summer of 2026, though, I just think it means they have to go a little bit harder in the 2026 offseason period, afterwards. That’s about the only stipulation I have.

If you believe in Miller, then you have to act like a team that actually believes in the two players they’ve signed to over 200-million-dollar contracts. That means really going for it, not just piddling around.

The best part about extending Brandon Miller, whatever the number?

Miller is still only on the books for 15 million next season. Even after a (presumed likely) re-signing of Coby White at roughly 25 million/year, Charlotte still has the full mid-level exception available – a 15 million dollar exception that can be used on one player, or split between two if Charlotte chooses. If I am not mistaken, using the MLE puts the team that uses it into the First Apron category of rules.

The 2026-2027 NBA Salary Cap has been officially projected at 165 million.

Assume Charlotte re-signs Coby White at a hypothetical flat-rate 25M/year.

The Hornets' projected total salary for next year would be right under 173.5 million – just a little less than 8.5 million dollars OVER the projected 165 million-dollar salary cap for 2026-2027.

This is only for ‘26-’27, before Miller’s money kicks in.

While being eight million over the cap sounds dramatic, it’s not at all. There’s seldom an NBA team that doesn’t at least meet the full allotted salary cap every year. Being OVER the cap also doesn’t mean you’re automatically activating the First Apron, either.

That’s why news came out about Charlotte trying to pursue a big man via trade. It seems like the most likely route, at this point. Free Agency won’t provide the kind of help the Hornets are after when you look down the list.

Not as an anchor offseason piece, at least. Free Agency is where they can use the MLE and fill out the back end of the roster they see fit.

If they use both of their draft picks at the end of this June, I think they will be using the full MLE on one player. They’d also have to decline Pat Connaughton’s team option if they use both No. 14 and No. 18, so they have a 15th roster spot available to use the MLE on someone else.

This is a sidebar, but relevant to this summer, and the potential MLE usage in free agency:

I think the need to cut Connaughton, in order to use the 15th roster spot on someone else with the MLE, is why the Hornets gave a bunch of guaranteed money for Pat to come back so quickly after cutting him initially at the trade deadline in order to make the few moves the Hornets did.

It wasn’t just a thank you for getting briefly cut. It was out of anticipation that he wouldn’t get that team option picked up this summer, and they felt he deserved a reward for the work he does as a locker room leader.

I think they wanted to make sure he was taken care of. If Charlotte doesn’t exercise his team option, he may not end up playing anywhere else.

He could, but it’s definitely uncertain.

If you commit over 200 million dollars and you believe in Brandon, you have to go get those pieces to make Charlotte even better, because they will make Miller better by proxy. It will make the Hornets' investment more valuable if they invest in Brandon and then go invest even more heavily in the team around him.

Whatever that may look like in free agency, I’ll talk about that part here in less than a week.

Here’s a happy medium on Brandon Miller; I think it works for both sides, and makes you feel more comfortable in a potential offseason trade in which a potential return player for Charlotte has multiple years left on his contract.

Flexibility at any level in the NBA is everything.

A Miller Deal for five years, $210 million, at an 8% year-over-year increase, could look like this:

Hypothetical 5-year, 210 million, 8% year-over-year (Bird Rights) contract extension for Brandon Miller. — Owen Watterson, Charlotte Hornets on SI

This 210-million-dollar deal is my compromise that keeps Charlotte closer to 200 million overall than the 250-275-million-dollar max, but Miller gets to feel more valued after getting more than just a flat 200 million.

Charlotte just has to make a choice.

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