Hornets’ Brandon Miller exits early; Embiid finds his rhythm

PHILADELPHIA — Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller left early in the second quarter of Saturday night’s 122-199 loss to the 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena and did not return with what the team later described as “left shoulder soreness.”

“I look forward to meeting up with the performance staff and finding out more,” Hornets coach Charles Lee said after the loss, adding that he didn’t have any further updates on Miller’s status.

The 6-foot-8 forward, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft behind San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama, immediately walked off the court and back to Charlotte’s locker room at the 10:50 mark of the second quarter after a jumper by Joel Embiid.

At the time, Miller appeared to be in a good amount of pain and was grabbing at his left arm — though it wasn’t clear at the time what the injury was or when it occurred to anyone watching, including Lee himself.

“I really didn’t, to be honest,” Lee said, when asked what happened. “I turned around, and saw he was asking for a sub. For a second, I thought maybe it was his wrist, and then later found out it was shoulder soreness.”

Miller, who had 25 points and 7 assists in Charlotte’s season-opening win Wednesday night at home against the Brooklyn Nets, played only 27 games last season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn scapholunate ligament in his right wrist in January.

Miller had four points and an assist in 9 minutes Saturday night before exiting with the injury, and didn’t speak to reporters after the game.

“We’re always worried about all of our guys,” Lee said. “Any time a guy goes down, you’re always worried about them, and you hope they are OK.”

Embiid, meanwhile, bounced back from his 1-for-9 shooting performance in Wednesday’s season-opening win in Boston by going 7-for-11 from the field and scoring 20 points in 20 minutes in Saturday’s win. Embiid said he “didn’t necessarily” feel better against Charlotte than he did against Boston, but that he’s still adjusting to playing with a minutes restriction and that it “looks better” when shots go in.

“The first game it was more like get in the game slowly, and figure it out,” Embiid said. “Tonight, it was more like, ‘Well, I’ve only got 20 minutes.’

“The first game, I didn’t fall down, and today I fell down like five times, because if I’ve only got that amount of minutes, if I don’t make an impact I’m not going to get a chance.”

Embiid said he didn’t know how long he’d be on the minutes restriction or when the minutes would go up. He did, however, say that if he’s going to be on one, he prefers it to be how 76ers coach Nick Nurse handled it Saturday, with Embiid’s 20 minutes coming over the course of a normal rotation and ending midway through the third quarter.

“I’d rather not be on a minutes restriction at all,” Embiid said. “But I’d rather get it out of the way. The longer I sit, if you play the shorter stints, you don’t get in a rhythm.”