BREAKING: Charlotte Hornets have lost a star to injury.
The Charlotte Hornets lost to the Golden State Warriors 115-97 on Friday night, and they might have lost star rookie Brandon Miller in the process as well. Miller appeared to roll his ankle in the fourth quarter, and he was clearly in a lot of pain as he checked himself out of the game for a few minutes. He was able to make a return, but he was quickly pulled by Steve Clifford after only a minute of action, as he was limping around on the court as he tried to battle through the injury.
Clifford isn’t too sure what happened with the first incident, but acted accordingly the second time around.
“I don’t know other than when he went down the second time, there’s just no need to mess with it,” Clifford said. “He’ll probably say he’s fine or whatever, but he was limping up and down the court. There’s no reason for him to be out there.”
The Hornets were already down by more than 20 points when Miller got hurt, so with there being virtually no shot at victory, subbing Miller out to prevent him from further injury his ankle was the right move. With several other guys out on the sidelines due to a multitude of injuries, adding another name to that list isn’t exactly a great proposition.
Until more info comes to light on this injury situation, it’s best to remain optimistic about Miller’s injury. Players roll their ankles all the time in games, and while the severity of it hasn’t been revealed yet, Miller was seen walking around on it as normal after the game.
Maybe after some rest in between games and some treatment, the ankle will feel limber enough for him to finish the season out on a strong note. Charlotte is already missing LaMelo Ball, Seth Curry, and Mark Williams among others due to injuries, so hopefully Miller’s name isn’t added to this already lengthy list.
The Hornets will be back in action on Sunday when the Los Angeles Clippers come to town, so assuming he’s healthy enough to play, Miller will get a crack at taking on his idol, Paul George, for the first time in his career. Miller didn’t play in the Hornets first matchup against the Clippers back in December, so this will be his last shot this season to test his skills out against the man who he patented his game after. Miller has said on several occasions what George means to this generation, so it would be fun for Miller to show George what he stole from his game.
With his rookie season coming to a close, Miller has put on a show every night. When you reflect on some of the elite players in the NBA today and where they started, Miller’s rookie year stands out in a lot of good ways. While he’s playing every night on a Hornets team plagued by injuries and devoid of talent, he’s averaging more points and three-pointers per game as a rookie than Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous- Alexander, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George all managed to put up.
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Hopefully Brandon Miller has a chance to add to those tallies again this season. As long as the ankle injury isn’t too serious, Miller should be able to find his way back on the court this season and put the perfect bow on top of a successful rookie campaign.
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