Charlotte Hornets guard Brandon Miller maintains possession of the ball after being knocked to the floor during action against the Denver Nuggets at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC on Sunday, December 7, 2025. JEFF SINER jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
With a little more than an hour to go before tipoff, Charlotte Hornets assistant coach Jermaine Bucknor was sitting in the front row along the baseline, flanked by Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges.
One player was in shorts and the usual warmup attire; the other had on sweats.
That snapshot gave an indicator of where things stood with Miller.
Nursing a left knee contusion, Miller didn’t play in Wednesday night’s game against the Toronto Raptors at Spectrum Center, eventually joining Ryan Kalkbrenner and Grant Williams in street clothes on the bench.
“So Brandon’s obviously just been kind of managing his knee a little bit, going into a back-to-back,” coach Charles Lee said. “It was important for us as we continue to evaluate him and just see him on the court, to just try to give him an opportunity to have the most success to be available going forward.
“So, he’s going to continue to get evaluated right now, and we’ll see, but we’re just trying to manage him and make sure that he can be most available as we keep going with this back–to-back and then an upcoming West Coast road trip as well.”
As for Kalkbrenner, he missed his eighth straight outing rehabilitating a sprained left elbow. The rookie center has started in all but one of the 26 games he’s appeared in, averaging 8.7 points and 6.4 rebounds, but hasn’t suited up since Dec. 20.
From left, Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges, guard LaMelo Ball, guard Brandon Miller and Grant Williams sit on the team’s bench during action against the New York Knicks at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. JEFF SINER jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
“Yeah, Ryan is going to be OK,” Lee said. “He’s been making really good progress in all seriousness, and I think that he’s kind of come back to some of the team activities now.
“We’ll continue to evaluate him after every team activity he does and in on-court sessions, but I do think he’s trending in a good direction.”
Sounds like Williams is in the same boat.
More than a year removed from tearing his right ACL, Williams is apparently in the final stages of his comeback. There’s no definitive date for his return, but it could be trending to take place this month.
“Grant’s obviously been out for an extended period of time with his injury now, has been able to be more involved in team activities and five-on-five play,” Lee said, “and so far he’s responded really well.
“But when you’ve missed that much time from basketball, we want to make sure that we’re reintegrating him into game play at the appropriate time. And so we’ll kind of just continue to evaluate him as we go through this back-to-back and again the West Coast road trip coming up.”