It sounds as if Brandon Miller’s return to the Charlotte Hornets’ lineup will be coming sooner rather than later.
That’s great news for Miller and for the franchise, which has lost nine of 12 games since Miller was sidelined by injury in the second game of the 2025-26 NBA season.
An Antioch native and Cane Ridge High School alum, Miller suffered a left shoulder subluxation — a partial dislocation — in the Hornets’ Oct. 25 game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
In the season opener three nights earlier, Miller, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 draft and a Hornets starter, had posted 25 points and seven assists in Charlotte’s 136-117 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
That game was Miller’s first since Jan. 15, 2025, when he tore a ligament in his right wrist. The injury required surgery, which sidelined Miller for the remaining 55 games of the 2024-25 season.
But it doesn’t sound as if the current injury is anywhere near as serious.
The Hornets announced Monday that Miller, a 6-7, 200-pound guard, had returned to basketball activity, later noting he had practiced with Charlotte’s G-League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.
The team will continue to evaluate Miller, and updates on his return to game action will be provided as appropriate.
It seems unlikely that Miller would join the Hornets on their current road trip, which ends Wednesday in Indianapolis. Charlotte’s next home game is Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Miller, who spent one season at Alabama, got off to a great start in the NBA, as he averaged 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 74 games during the 2023-24 season. The 22-year-old Miller earned a spot on the league’s all-rookie team and finished third in rookie of the year balloting.
Miller averaged 21.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals in 2024-25 before his season was cut short.
Once fully healthy, the Hornets would seem to have an intriguing trio of young talents in Miller, guard LaMelo Ball and guard-forward Kon Knueppel.
Ball just returned from an injury that caused him to miss six of seven games, and Miller has been in the lineup just twice. Knueppel, a former Duke star, is averaging 17.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists as a rookie.
