Brandon Miller Is Either A Master Troll Or Simply Doesn't Know Ball After Declaring He Doesn't Know Who Khris Middleton Is

Thearon W. Henderson. Getty Images.

While doing his rookie pre draft presser, Brandon Miller made headlines when he declared that Paul George, not LeBron or Jordan was actually his basketball GOAT

While I disagree, at least I could understand the thinking. You have to remember, a lot of these guys and any young player/high school kid that answers Paul George to this question were molded by the mid-2010's Paul George. The one on the Pacers who while ultimately unsuccessful, did give the Heatles some serious issues

While he's certainly not the GOAT, George is going to be a HOF player so it's not like he's some scrub. This is also not a hot take, by the way. Basketball Reference has him with a 93.6% chance of getting in. 

So on some level given his age and the era of the NBA in which he was exposed to as a kid, I could theoretically understand that answer.

But now I'm wondering if Brandon Miller even watches the NBA at all

I get it, Khris Middleton only played in 33 games this season and only 5 playoff games. He wasn't exactly on the floor a whole lot. At the same time, he's been in the NBA for 10 years. He was a very prominent part of the 2020-21 Bucks who won the title. He's a 3x All Star. I know the Bucks are a small market team, but how does any NBA/basketball fan not know Khris Middleton? It's not as if the Bucks are never on National TV or anything either. They had 18 nationally televised games last season! They play on Christmas basically every year! Whenever someone talked about the Bucks it was always "well they didn't have Khris Middleton". I know it's not as if the NBA puts him on billboards or anything, but he's not exactly a nobody either.

With Jonas Valančiūnas, this one is maybe a little more believable. I mean not to anyone who watches the NBA, but of the two guys I guess it would make sense to not know him. Granted he's one of the better 5s in the league, but he hasn't made an All Star team or had any sort of super deep playoff run so I wouldn't exactly call him a household name by any means. Same with Isaiah Hartenstein. Something tells me Brandon Miller has no idea Hartenstein is a solid depth rotation big, even if he did have a down year as a Knick this season. 

While I personally will never object to any Middleton or Bucks slander, even I can admit this is a tough look. Part of me kind of respects Miller for not giving a fuck and doing whatever he can to have a target on his back as he enters his rookie season. I already know Middleton is going to turn back the clock and give this dude the business in their first meeting as long as he's finally healthy. While Miller is having a good amount of success in the Summer League

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He's going to learn pretty quickly that things are a whole lot different once the real games start. Players already love putting a rookie, especially a high lottery pick, in their place once they get to the league, and Miller certainly isn't doing himself any favors.