Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller will be a key piece for the team and is projected to win a major award.
The Charlotte Hornets made a bunch of moves this offseason, retooling the team around Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller for the future.
The biggest move was sending All-Star guard LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid and draft capital.
This opens the door for Knueppel and Miller to take on bigger roles in the offseason and lead the Hornets into the future.
With Miller set to be a leader for Charlotte, he has been predicted to win the Most Improved Player Award.
"It's gonna be Brandon Miller for me from Charlotte," NBATV contributor Mo Dakhil said. "He's gonna get a bigger opportunity now with LaMelo gone. He's gonna get more reps on the ball. He's gonna show more of what he can do with the ball in his hands more often. They're going to need him to do a lot more offensively..."
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectMiller is coming off a good season, as he averaged 20.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and a steal per game, shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from three. He is a budding star and could have his best year yet in the 2026-27 season.
"He was on my shortlist for this category," Zach Lowe said. "Charlotte's surge last year coincided exactly with Brandon Miller getting healthy and getting a consistently available 20 PTS, 5 REB, 3 AST last year. My hesitation with selecting him was that a lot of the voters are just stats-driven. They're not gonna watch 40 Hornets games."
Although the Hornets aren't a big market team, that doesn't count Miller out of winning the award. If he has an All-Star-caliber season, he could win the Most Improved Player Award and solidify himself as a core piece for the future of the franchise.
He can score at all three levels, and if he can get more efficient from the floor, he could develop into one of the best scoring forwards in the league.
While Charlotte doesn't have a ton of hype surrounding them in the 2026-27 season, they have a solid roster, and if Miller has a great season, they could make a Play-In push for the second straight season.
