2023 NBA Draft: Charlotte Hornets select Alabama's Brandon Miller
Alabama freshman forward Brandon Miller was selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night. Miller was the first Crimson Tide player off the board and is tied with Antonio McDyess (No. 2 in 1995) as Alabama’s highest-drafted player. This selection brings the Tide’s all-time NBA draft picks to 47, while Miller is the 18th first-round pick, the ninth top-15 choice and the fourth lottery pick in the last six years.
College basketball’s Freshman of the Year, according to the SEC, USBWA and NABC, Miller averaged 18.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in his lone season at Alabama. Miller scored 696 points in 37 games – all starts – which were the second-most in a single year in program history, trailing only Reggie King’s 747 in 1978-79. He is the only Division I player in the last 30 years to record 695 points, 305 rebounds and 105 threes in one season.
A consensus second-team All-American, Miller became the fourth player in the last 50 years to lead the SEC in scoring as a true freshman, joining Tennessee’s Bernard King (1975) as well as Chris Jackson (1989) and Cameron Thomas (2021), both from LSU. He was also the first player to sweep SEC Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Tournament MVP honors in the same season. Miller scored 219 points against teams ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll, too.
“We’ve had, since we’ve been here, Kira (Lewis) went in the lottery, (Josh) Primo went in the lottery, Herb (Jones) was drafted and starts as a rookie and starts now as a second-year player with the Pelicans and JD Davison is doing really well with the G League team and was drafted,” head coach Nate Oats said. “We’ve had some pros come out of here. Brandon’s a little bit different than those guys.
“He’s a 6-9 two-guard, combo guard almost. I think we’ve had really good kids. Shoot, go down the list of those four guys in the NBA that I just listed. They’re all really high-character kids. Brandon follows in the same suit. He’s a great kid with a good personality, works really hard, really cares about his team.
“It is nice to have the best player on the floor most nights when you go out, though, as a coach. It makes my job a little bit easier. He can create some offense, make some tough shots when you’re struggling a little bit. We’re gonna enjoy him for the one year we’ve got him. He’s gonna be really good next year in the NBA. He’s been really good for us.”
A former 5-star recruit out of Antioch, Tenn., Miller was the No. 14 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, as well as the fifth-best small forward and the top player from the state of Tennessee. He was On3’s No. 17 overall recruit in 2022.
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