Hornets, Brandon Miller agree to five-year contract extension

The Hornets are making a major commitment to Brandon Miller, agreeing to a five-year, $209 million rookie-scale extension, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Miller’s agents, AJ Vaynerchuk and Joey Middleton, confirmed the agreement, which came roughly an hour before Monday’s deadline.

The deal reinforces Miller’s place at the center of Charlotte’s plans after the team traded LaMelo Ball to the Timberwolves over the summer. With relatively little long-term guaranteed salary on their books, the Hornets had room to make a substantial investment in the 23-year-old forward.

Miller’s reported contract comes in just above the five-year, $208 million extension Amen Thompson signed with the Rockets. If fully guaranteed, it would rank as the offseason’s second-largest rookie-scale extension, behind Victor Wembanyama’s maximum-salary agreement with the Spurs.

The No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 draft, Miller spent one season at Alabama before joining Charlotte. He now enters his fourth NBA season with his long-term future settled.

For the Hornets, the Ball trade raised questions about what would come next. This agreement provides a clear answer about who they intend to build around.