LaMelo Ball vs. Brandon Miller: Which Hornets star is actually untouchable?

LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller are the two faces of the Charlotte Hornets. Both top-three selections that have made All-Star teams (Miller made the Rising Stars team in year two, which is about as good as he can do this early in his career) figure to be important to Charlotte for years.

But what if Charlotte had to choose one? No one's forcing them to, but from a basketball standpoint, it's not totally unwise to hone in on one face of the franchise and really build around that player. Ball and Miller can and do coexist, but trading one to get more pieces to go around the other might not be the worst team-building idea a Hornets executive has ever had.

The general consensus is that Ball is less untouchable than Miller, and that's for good reason. All the factors that make a player untouchable (age, contract, etc) tend to favor Miller. Ball, however, seems to be Charlotte's golden child right now. They've said at every turn that he is not available.

Miller is a year younger. That really doesn't matter when the players are 23 and 22, but everything helps. Miller is also on a rookie deal, whereas Ball is in the throes of a max rookie extension. Someday, Miller will be, too, but building a roster around one of these players is easier when there's a roughly $25 million gap in salaries.

Neither is particularly healthy, though Miller has played an average of 50.5 games per year and Ball is sitting at 42.2 games per season. Ball's injury history is much more vast, too. Miller is the safer bet as far as the two players are concerned.

It's not all Miller, though. Ball does have some things working in his favor. For one thing, he's a better player. Miller's never had an offensive rating above 108.9 in a season, while Ball's worst year produced a 108.7 offensive rating. On defense, they're both in the same range and are poor defenders.

Ball also, despite that, has less value on the open market. Because of his contract and injury status, he'd get less of a return than Miller, though probably not by a substantial margin. Still, if Charlotte is going for the maximum possible haul, they might consider Miller over him.

Ultimately, both of these players are more than likely not being traded. The NBA world insists Ball is destined for another team, but he doesn't want to leave, and the Hornets want him. Keeping him and Miller together might not be wise for the perimeter defense, but it's a Batman and Robin situation that good teams have. Blowing it up to get a return for one wouldn't be smart.

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