LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller are a top ___ duo in Charlotte Hornets history. Fill in the blank yourself, but the young duo has to be at the top of any list ranking the best Hornets of all time.

The young stars represent the future of basketball in the Queen City. Ball just turned 23 and Miller will still be 21 when the season starts in October. These two have yet to reach their limitless potential, although they are damn good right now.

Their current talent makes me wonder. How do they rank compared to the star duos of the Eastern Conference? Let’s take a look.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown

Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges

Joel Embiid and Paul George

Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard

Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo

There is no world in which Ball and Miller should be equated with any of the duos listed above. Inside each of them is either a former MVP, a consistent All-Star, an All-NBA talent or an Olympic gold medalist who is undoubtedly a better player than Ball and Miller in 2024.

In 2027? Maybe Ball/Miller needs to be discussed in comparison to some of those star duos, but not in 2024. Going through that list of stars really made me realize how deep the top tier of the Eastern Conference is. Boston, the defending champions, are the clear favorites, but behind them are four of five teams that could seriously challenge for the Eastern Conference crown. The playoffs should be the Hornets’ goal in 2024-25, but they will have to put up an uphill battle to make the playoffs.

Coby White/Josh Giddy

Trae Young/Bogdan Bogdanovic

Coby White/Josh Giddy

Who plays for Brooklyn

Kyle Kuzma/Bilal Coulibaly

Cade Cuningham/Jalen Duren

On the other hand, I believe any of the teams listed above would trade their pair for Charlotte’s faster than Eric Collins could say “Hmmmmmmmm”. You can argue for Trae Young and Bogdan Bogdanovic based on Young’s immense talent alone, but the combination of Ball and Miller makes this duo better.

Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner

Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakim

This is the duo level where Miller and Ball are.Round of the seventh to ninth best teams in the Eastern Conference. Honestly, they’re probably the worst of all the ones I’ve got with them. The Pacers duo made it to the conference finals in 2024, while the Magic duo almost reached the second round of the NBA playoffs but lost to Cleveland in a close opening round.

Again, Ball and Miller will likely shoot up this list in the coming years. I’m as optimistic about their potential as anyone, but they’re not quite in the big leagues yet. And that’s okay! They’re expected to be leaders in the coming years like Charlotte has never seen. Their games complement each other perfectly, and a future where the Hornets have two alphas in Miller and Ball will likely lead to the success that would bring even more excitement to the Queen City.

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