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2023 NBA Draft Combine

Source: Stacy Revere / Getty

We’re officially less than three weeks away from the 2023 NBA Draft, and the debate between Scoot Henderson and Brandon Miller is heating up. Charlotte has to decide if it’s best to draft another point guard to pair with LaMelo Ball in the backcourt, or to draft the ideal wing in today’s NBA, as they try to put last season behind them and try to make it back to the NBA postseason.

A conversation that is going to arise no matter who Charlotte picks at #2, is whether they will start right away or not. This conversation came up at the end of the Wes & Walker Show yesterday on WFNZ, as Walker, who prefers Henderson over Miller, doesn’t believe either one would start right away. LaMelo Ball didn’t start right away, and when you look back at the recent #2 picks, a good number haven’t started right away for their respective teams. Wes, who is in the Brandon Miller camp, sees Miller having an easier path to starting right away, just given the logjam in the backcourt if they were to go the Henderson route. Furthermore, assuming that Miles Bridges will mostly likely be back with the Hornets next year, Miller could solidify himself in a starting role, as Bridges has to serve a 10-game suspension at the start of next season.

For the last two seasons, Charlotte has flirted with the idea of trading away Terry Rozier, and Gordon Hayward, players whom they overpaid, and have found it hard to move since. Depending on the direction that Charlotte goes at #2, it might force their hand, and move one of those players, which is exactly what Wes predicted yesterday, stating that if the Hornets draft Henderson, he could see Rozier moved on draft night.

When the Hornets drafted LaMelo Ball, they didn’t know that LaMelo was going to be on the board at #3, so in many ways they lucked into drafting the All-Star guard. This year, with the #1 pick already decided, the draft starts with the Hornets at #2, and that puts all the more pressure on Mitch Kupchak to get this right, as the future of not only the franchise but LaMelo Ball in Charlotte, heavily depends on getting this pick right.