The Hornets and forward Brandon Miller agreed to a five-year, $209 million rookie-scale extension on Monday, according to ESPN, Yahoo Sports and Sportsnet. Yahoo's Dan Devine reported that the sides reached the deal hours ahead of the deadline for players from Miller's draft class to sign extensions.

Hoops Rumors' Luke Adams later wrote that the extension is official, citing the NBA's transaction log. He also passed along a detail from ESPN's Bobby Marks: the deal is tentatively expected to start at $44 million, which is Miller's projected maximum. Marks cautioned that the figure could end up slightly lower or higher if the current $174 million cap projection proves inaccurate. Hoops Rumors says the contract descends, but its summary cuts off before giving the details. Only that outlet and Marks' account supply the starting salary and the structure. The other reports we have give only the total and the length.

Yahoo framed the deal around Charlotte's decision to trade LaMelo Ball: the Hornets bet on Miller when they moved Ball, and the extension is the follow-through. None of the summaries we have say why the trade was made, so we won't speculate on that.

Miller's numbers last season give a sense of what Charlotte is paying for. He played 65 games, all as a starter, averaging 30.3 minutes. He shot 7.0-of-16.1 from the field (43.5%) and 3.1-of-8.2 from three. Ball, now with Minnesota, played 72 games, averaging 28.0 minutes on 40.7% shooting and 3.8-of-10.3 from deep.

The new season has started poorly for the club. Charlotte is 1-3, fifth in the Southeast, and has lost two straight. After a 105-90 home win over Milwaukee on Oct. 11, the Hornets lost 114-93 at Boston and then 117-98 at Memphis on Friday.

The extension's first-year salary and the cap projection behind it will matter only once the new contract begins. Miller's next chance to play on it comes soon. The Hornets visit Brooklyn on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and then host Atlanta on Friday, Oct. 23.