Charlotte Hornets’ Nick Smith Jr. talks battling injury, friendship with Brandon Miller

When asked to describe his newest teammate’s style of play, Brandon Miller couldn’t help but chuckle.

His new teammate is Nick Smith Jr., the guard the Charlotte Hornets selected with the 27th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. But “new” wasn’t exactly right. Miller and Smith, after all, know each other well.

They were an exciting duo as AAU teammates for Brad Beal Elite in high school. And they even played each other once in the most consequential throes of the SEC basketball season — an 86-83 Alabama win over Arkansas in which both freshmen scored 24 points, and where Smith played all 40 minutes.

“He’s definitely a crafty guard, real creative,” Miller told fans and reporters in the lobby of the Spectrum Center on Friday in their introductory press conference.

He then told a story: “I remember we played them once, and he kind of hit me with an in-and-out (hesitation) first play of the game. Floater. I liked that move, so I decided to kind of steal it from him.”

Smith, 19, laughed and then returned the praise: “Especially off the court, (Miller’s) a great teammate to have for sure.”

The two Southern born-and-bred players are clearly comfortable with each other, and that’s a good sign for the Hornets, a team that finished 14th in the 15-team Eastern Conference and put a lot of stock in Thursday’s NBA Draft. A lot of that is because they’ve been around each other for so long.

But they each took different paths to Thursday’s — and ultimately, Friday’s — moment.

Miller finished his only year at Alabama with almost every accolade possible on the court: AP First Team All-America, SEC Freshman and Player of the Year, a conference championship. Meanwhile, Smith (6-foot-5) battled extensive injuries: One of the top prospects coming out of high school only played in 17 games his freshman season (averaging 12.5 points a game on 38% shooting), all thanks to various injuries in his right knee.

Smith said Friday that those obstacles strengthened him, though.

“Going through that process, I learned so much about my body. Just to take stuff more seriously,” he said. “Just being in the weight room more often. I feel God put me in that position to actually be aware of those types of things. And going through that process, I feel like I fell in love with the weight room more than I ever have.”

Smith added: “I also have a good support base around me. My mom, my dad, my brother, my sister. My friends at home. They’re all behind me. ... Whenever stuff gets tough, that’s who I go to.”

Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak said on Friday that there was a lot of consideration made into all of the Hornets’ draft picks.

“The No. 2 pick, there was a lot of debate, it wasn’t the easiest decision, a lot of speculation,” Kupchak said. “And I understand that. It’s front row, right? ... But that’s not to say that just as much energy was put into the other selections. Sometimes even more.

“We feel really good about our draft. And I’m hopeful in four or five years, I can look back on it and that my feeling is justified.”

And that process begins with Miller and Smith — two guys who knew each other long before they arrived in Charlotte.