Brandon Miller exits Friday's game with groin soreness

Brandon Miller experienced right groin soreness in the second quarter of Friday’s game against Boston and did not return, the Hornets announced (via Twitter).

It’s a disappointing development for Miller, who has dealt with multiple injuries in his young career. The fourth-year small forward missed most of 2024/25 after tearing a ligament in his right wrist, which required season-ending surgery, and missed time at the start of last season after partially dislocating his left shoulder — he underwent surgery to address that issue in May.

The second overall pick in the 2023 draft, Miller signed a five-year rookie scale extension with Charlotte last month, a contract that’s worth a projected $208.8MM. Through nine games this fall, Miller averaged 22.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 32.9 minutes per contest, though he had committed more turnovers (2.6 per game) than assists (2.3) and struggled with offensive efficiency — his shooting line entering Friday was .359/.267/.861.

Part of the reason for those poor shooting splits was that Charlotte has been shorthanded this fall, with Coby White (left calf strain) only making his season debut on Monday and Kon Knueppel (left hamstring strain) suiting up for the first time on Wednesday. Knueppel exited that contest after just six minutes and has been diagnosed with another left hamstring strain.

Head coach Charles Lee provided a minor update on Knueppel ahead of Friday’s contest, according to Rod Boone (Twitter link). Lee said the team is still in the information-gathering phase and “it’s going to take a little bit of time” to assess how long Knueppel might be sidelined. Lee declined to say whether Knueppel had a day-to-day or week-to-week injury, Boone adds.

Additionally, Grant Williams is still recovering from a right hamstring strain he suffered in an offseason workout and Charlotte downgraded Moussa Diabate (right quadriceps tendinopathy) and Dennis Schröder (left thigh soreness) from questionable to out prior to Friday’s game (Twitter link). Ryan Kalkbrenner and Grayson Allen entered the starting lineup with Diabate and Knueppel/Schröder out.

The Hornets were blown out by the Celtics on Friday to drop their sixth straight game. They’re now 3-7 after surprisingly winning three of their first four games to open the season.