What: Charlotte Hornets (0-3) vs New Orleans Pelicans (2-1)
When: 7:30pm EDT
Where: Cox Pavilion; Las Vegas, NV
How to watch: NBA TV, NBA League Pass
The Hornets are coming off their best performance of the summer league so far, even in a losing effort against the Trail Blazers. Their 2023 first round picks showed out. Nick Smith went nuclear in the final minutes of the game en route to a 33 point outburst. Brandon Miller was steady all game long and finished with 26 points on 15 shots. Miles Bridges summed it up pretty well.
We’re getting to the point where a lot of teams are shutting down their key pieces if they have strong performances, so there’s a chance the Hornets elect to do that with Miller. No indications have been made that that’s the case, so we’ll operate under the assumption that he’s playing for now.
The Pelicans are probably the least intriguing team the Hornets have faced in the summer league so far after touring through top picks and mega-market fan draws. The Pelicans feature mid-first round pick Jordan Hawkins and last year’s lottery pick Dyson Daniels. Daniels is like last year’s version of Anthony Black–a pesky defender with a high basketball IQ that stuffs the stat sheet. He’s put up some gaudy numbers through three games, including a 17 point, 15 rebound, eight assist, two steal, two block performance against the Warriors. Hawkins is expected to be a sharpshooter, but he hasn’t found the range yet this summer. He’s connected on just five out of 22 3-point attempts thus far, but he’s still managed to put together some decent scoring performances.
The Pelicans’ leading scorer to this point has been an undrafted free agent from last year–NC State product Dereon Seabron. He’s averaging 15.7 points per game, which is boosted by a 25 point showing in the Pelicans’ second summer league game.
Assuming the lineup remains unchanged, the Hornets will want to see Brandon Miller and Nick Smith build off their big games last time out. Both have shown improvements game over game all summer league long, and they’ll want to continue that this time out.
This is the last pre-scheduled summer league contest, but the Hornets will play one more consolation game this weekend. Date, time, and opponent will be announced later.