Keyonte George became the third player from the 2023 NBA Draft class to receive a rookie-scale extension when the Utah Jazz guard agreed to a five-year, $157.5 million deal on Friday, per ESPN. George is the first player drafted outside of the lottery to receive an extension and joined Victor Wembanaya and Amen Thompson as the first players from the class to receive a second NBA contract. George certainly won't be the last player from his draft class to cash in on a lucrative extension.
The logical next player from the class that could get paid similar money -- and possibly, somewhere in the ballpark of $200 million over the life of the contract -- is Hornets forward Brandon Miller. Charlotte had a busy offseason after trading away star guard LaMelo Ball to Minnesota and now has relatively clean books beyond this year. By trading away Ball, the Hornets. appear to be all-in on their young core of Miller and Kon Knueppel.
The biggest storyline of the 2023 NBA Draft was who Charlotte would pick. Ultimately, the franchise selected Miller over Scoot Henderson, who was drafted No. 3 overall by the Portland Trail Blazers. Henderson's career has been underwhelming to date, and he could have to wait until next summer's restricted free agency cycle to get paid.
With George cashing in on a big payday, here are the players from their draft class who could be next and who might be waiting beyond the next few weeks to get paid. Players are listed in their draft order. There's a possibility that Miller ends up at a higher AAV than George.
A projected deal for Miller could be five years, $200 million. Miller has certainly shown flashes of why he deserves to be paid at the top of the line in his class. However, he has missed significant time (55 games in 2024-25 and 17 last season) due to injury.
Miller could outplay a $200 million deal if he stays healthy and keeps developing. Henderson was heralded as one of the best guard prospects of the decade entering the draft. However, he hasn't lived up to that billing to date.
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