Brandon Miller no longer untouchable? NBA insider weighs in on the Hornets' Star

The Charlotte Hornets arguably nailed the 2023 NBA draft by selecting Brandon Miller second overall. The debate between him and Scoot Henderson looks silly now.

One could argue that Amen Thompson should've been the pick, but that's debatable. And for a time, it looked like the Hornets had found a potential exit from the LaMelo Ball era, as Miller could've become the face.

After his brilliant rookie season, there were murmurs that he was the most untouchable Hornet and that the team might consider trading Ball and rebuilding around Miller.

The wing was, after all, less prone to bad shots, more efficient, better on defense, healthier, younger, and cheaper than Ball. The Hornets seemingly never mulled over that idea, but there was plenty of talk.

Now, with injuries hampering Miller's last two years (he has played only 37 out of a possible 108 games in the last two seasons) and his own shooting woes popping up, Mike Scotto just dropped a bombshell regarding Miller's future.

NBA insider suggests Brandon Miller is not as untouchable anymore

Mike Scotto wrote about the tandem of Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball, "Their collective health and availability are a large asterisk to the point where NBA executives around the league have begun to wonder if Miller is no longer as untouchable as he once was."

Scotto also noted what the general consensus has been: that the Hornets really want to see what a large enough sample size of healthy Ball, healthy Miller, and Kon Knueppel looks like. Until that happens, it's hard to speculate what they'll do.

Unfortunately, it's not implausible that the Hornets may have grown tired of both Miller and Ball. They say they haven't on either front, but it would be difficult to blame them. Ball's never on the court, and when he is this season, he is shooting below 40% from the field.

Miller's shooting may be hampered by his shoulder injury, but he's still struggling as well. His points are down from last year, and his shooting percentages have gone down every single year:

Rookie season: 44% from the floor, 37.3% from three
Year two: 40.3% from the floor, 35.5% from three
Year three: 36.4% from the field, 30.9% from three

It's really hard to build a franchise when two of the cornerstones are injured all the time and shoot poorly when they're not. Kon Knueppel is healthy as can be and shoots way better than both players, which may be driving some of this sentiment.

It's important to note that this report is based on how the rest of the NBA feels. Executives are beginning to wonder if they can trade for Miller more easily now, not that the Hornets have made him available.

And for what it's worth, executives said they were monitoring Ball this summer, indicating that there was hope or interest that he might be available, too. That obviously didn't happen, so a Miller trade is not exactly imminent.

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