Hornets Beat Bucks 105-90: What Naz Reid and Brandon Miller Showed in Charlotte’s Preseason Finale
Charlotte closed its preseason home schedule with a 105-90 win over Milwaukee on Sunday, and it was the first real look at both halves of the trade that remade the franchise.
Brandon Miller led the Hornets with 18 points and four assists in his first preseason game. Naz Reid, acquired this offseason, added 16 points in 20 minutes.
The Trade That Got Them Here
Charlotte sent LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to Minnesota for Reid and a series of draft picks in a four-team deal.
That is a franchise deciding that a high-usage ball-dominant guard was not the foundation and that a versatile big plus future assets was a better bet. It is a defensible call and a risky one, and it means Miller is now unambiguously the best player on the roster.
Eighteen points and four assists in a first appearance is a fine start. Nobody should read much more into a preseason game than that.
What Reid Gives Them
Sixteen points in 20 minutes is efficient production from a big man who can space the floor and defend multiple positions. That skill set matters more on a rebuilding team than raw scoring, because it lets a coach play almost any lineup combination around him.
Moussa Diabate had the most useful line of the night: eight points, 11 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. A double-double with defensive activity from a bench big is the kind of thing that decides whether a team wins 28 games or 38.
Milwaukee Is Still Figuring Itself Out
Tyler Herro led the Bucks with 18 points and seven rebounds. Nobody else stood out, and Milwaukee is in the awkward position of being a team in transition that still has to show up every night.
A 15-point preseason loss in Charlotte is not a crisis. It is also not a signal that the Bucks have found a workable identity.
What Comes Next
Charlotte plays at Boston on Wednesday and opens the regular season Oct. 21 at Brooklyn.
The honest expectation for this season is a lottery team with a clear plan, which is a better place than Charlotte has occupied in a while. The questions that actually matter are whether Miller can carry a larger offensive load without his efficiency collapsing, and whether Reid is a long-term piece or an asset to be moved again.
Sunday answered neither. It did show a young roster beating a veteran one by 15 and getting contributions from four or five different places, which in October is the most a rebuilding team can ask for.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
