Tyrese Maxey (0) of the Philadelphia 76ers celebrates with teammate VJ Edgecombe against the Charlotte Hornets in the first half at Xfinity Mobile Arena on October 25, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mitchell Leff Getty Images
It took all of one game.
Anyone who’s followed the Charlotte Hornets for the better part of the past decade understands the importance of good health. Those two things just haven’t gone together, especially when it comes to the team’s top talent.
This year was supposed to be different, given the Hornets’ initial injury list didn’t have any names on it beyond the expected ones of Josh Green (shoulder) and Grant Williams (ACL). But that changed in the first half of their 125-121 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Brandon Miller exited with left shoulder soreness and didn’t return, leaving a gray cloud over the Hornets’ scrappy performance against a team that’s been their arch nemesis. Miller appeared to take a hit on it in the second quarter and never came back out to the Hornets’ bench after getting examined in the locker room.
“I look forward to just meeting up with the performance staff and finding out more,” coach Charles Lee said. “I think it was just shoulder soreness and he’ll be evaluated. “
Lee said he never saw the actual point when Miller got injured.
“I really didn’t, to be honest,” he said. “I turned around and he was asking for a sub. And for a second I actually thought maybe it was his wrist and then later found out that it was a shoulder soreness.”
Moussa Diabate (14) of the Charlotte Hornets drives to the basket against Quentin Grimes of the Philadelphia 76ers in the first half at Xfinity Mobile Arena on October 25, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mitchell Leff Getty Images
His injury comes on the heels of his sizzling season-opening outing against Brooklyn on Wednesday, when he posted a team-best 25 points. That was Miller’s first action in an official game since having surgery in January to repair a torn scapholunate ligament in his right wrist, and after getting banged up against the 76ers, it’s unclear when he’ll be able to suit up again and if he’ll be available for Sunday night’s game against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.
There’s a bit of uncertainty.
“Yeah, we’re always worried about all of our guys,” Lee said. “Anytime somebody goes down, you’re always worried about him and hope everything’s Ok.”
Even without Miller for the bulk of three quarters, Charlotte proved once again these aren’t the Hornets (1-1) of old. Rather than Miller’s injury sucking their soul out, leaving them questioning whether they had enough to get it done minus one of their rising stars, the Hornets dug in and turned in a spirited second half fueled by Lee switching up the starting unit, putting Moussa Diabate in place of Ryan Kalkbrenner and giving the nod to Kon Knueppel.
Problem was, their legs seemed to give out on them in the fourth quarter, when an 11-point lead disappeared in the closing minutes, dropping their 15th outing to Philadelphia in the last 16 meetings and falling to 1-20 all-time against Joel Embiid.
“Understand that we haven’t played with each other before,” Collin Sexton said. “We’ve got a lot of new faces. We have a lot of new guys here. So, games like that builds trust. Those games build trust so that when we get in this same scenario in a couple weeks or even tomorrow, we’ll be ready to respond and respond in a way that, ‘Ok, we’ve been here before.’
“This is our first test and I’m glad it happened early rather than happen late and we’re not able to understand why it’s happening. You have to be able to bounce back and you have to understand that good days are coming as well as bad days. And you’ve got to be prepared for both.”
Still, there’s encouragement.
“Just got to learn from it,” said Miles Bridges, who had 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. “Go, go to the film room, learn from it, see what we could do better in the closing situations. And we’ll see them again.
“So, like I said, we’ll just go to the film and learn from it.”
Here are some key takeaways from the Hornets’ loss to Philadelphia:
Ryan Kalkbrenner’s growing pains
Perhaps foreshadowing things, Lee knew what Kalkbrenner was in store for trying to match up with Philadelphia star center Joel Embiid from the outset as the starting center for the second straight game.
“He’s a force,” Lee said leading up to tipoff. “Obviously, he won the MVP of the league and he does it in a lot of different ways. But I think that we have some really good individual defenders who are willing to embrace that challenge. And like I said, we can’t leave them on an island.
“We have to have great shift activity. We’ve got to have some different ways to guard them and give him some different looks. Because a guy like that, he can get comfortable if you just guard him one way the whole game.”
Kalkbrenner experienced some expected growing pains against Embiid, getting whistled for two quick fouls in the game’s initial 3:36 that cost him a good portion of the second quarter. That led to Mason Plumlee’s first action of the season and forced Lee to go with more of a three-headed rotation. But the rookie still managed to muster up 14 points — although most came with Embiid on the bench due to a minutes restriction — to go with seven rebounds.
VJ Edgecombe (77) of the Philadelphia 76ers and Collin Sexton of the Charlotte Hornets battle for the ball in the first half at Xfinity Mobile Arena on October 25, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mitchell Leff Getty Images
Going in depth
After not having enough healthy bodies in his first season, it appears Charles Lee is going to use as many as he can in Year 2.
Lee went deep for the second straight game, using six reserves off the bench — one more than in their victory against Brooklyn. Although Lee’s order of insertion of the reserves was altered versus the 76ers, partially because Sexton started instead of serving as the sixth man and Plumlee had to come in first due to Kalkbrenner’s early foul trouble, the premise remained the same.
And it doesn’t sound like it’s changing any time soon.
“Yeah, I think that we have great depth on this team,” Lee said. “A lot of guys have earned an opportunity to be out there. I think we have a lot of guys that play the right way — they compete, they’re about togetherness on both ends of the floor. And I love to get as many bites at the apple as we possibly can. I think that it puts your team in a good position to play any way.
“You need a lot of different ways. And so I love being able to play 10 guys. I think that those 10 guys (Wednesday) night earned the opportunity, but there’s some guys sitting behind them that have also earned the opportunity. And so from night-to-night, game to game, it could look a little bit different.”
Kon Knueppel (7) of the Charlotte Hornets guards VJ Edgecombe of the Philadelphia 76ers in the first half at Xfinity Mobile Arena on October 25, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mitchell Leff Getty Images
Sion James earning trust
Sion James is receiving key minutes, elbowing his way into the Hornets’ crowded backcourt contingent and showing why the team was confident in him enough to waive veteran Spencer Dinwiddie before the preseason concluded.
James logged 19 minutes off the bench, which was the second-most for a Hornets’ reserved. He was efficient, tossing in 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, and played under control.
“I think that he brings a toughness to the group,” Lee said, “a willingness to kind of just do whatever he needs to do to help connect offensively, while also bringing, like, a physicality defensively and like, wants to embrace the idea of guarding the other team’s best player or whoever may be going at that moment.
“So, there’s a lot of things that Sion brings to the table, but the. The biggest thing to me is his toughness, his IQ and willingness to do whatever it takes to kind of just add value to the group.”
James is glad to be in the rotation so soon.
“It’s a really good feeling,” he said. “It takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of things out of my control going my way. Now, it’s just about building from here, building personally, building as a team, as a unit. Everything like that.”
As for what he adds to the Hornets, James kept it simple.
“Bring a lot of energy on both sides of the ball, bring a lot of versatility on both sides of the ball,” James said. “And I feel like I try to raise the level of play for myself and all my teammates.”