Charlotte general manager Mitch Kupchak confirmed the Hornets chose between Alabama forward Brandon Miller and NBA G League guard Scoot Henderson when they made the second selection in the NBA Draft on Thursday night.

“Obviously, there were two players that were heavily considered at that position,” Kupchak said. “Brandon was the favorite all along. But to do your due diligence, you bring them in the one time, and then you’re allowed to bring them in a second time, which everybody knows we did on Monday.

“It wasn’t the easiest of decisions, but Brandon was our favorite all along. A lot of spirited discussion the last three or four days, which I welcome, and I think it’s good for the basketball department to discuss pros and cons, pluses and minuses, argue a little bit. Obviously, our opinion from the beginning did not change, but it was a process.”

In his only season with the Crimson Tide, Miller averaged 18.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 37 games as he won the SEC Player of the Year Award for the 2022-23 season. Miller led Alabama to the SEC regular-season and tournament championships and the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

A Georgia native, Henderson did not play college basketball but signed with the NBA G League’s Ignite prospect team. He averaged 17.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game last season.

“We think he’s the player that’s the best player,” Kupchak said of the Hornets’ choice of Miller. “They’re both excellent players, and they both will probably go on to have long NBA careers. But he’s the one that we feel would have the best NBA career as a Hornet.”

After the Hornets took Miller at No. 2, the Portland Trail Blazers chose Henderson with the No. 3 pick on Thursday night.

Not only did Charlotte prefer Miller to Henderson, the Hornets also chose him over what they were offered to trade the No. 2 pick.

“There was quite a bit of activity the last couple of days from, I would say, five or six teams that pretty heavily pursued the pick,” Kupchak said. “… But we never got to the point where we seriously considered moving the pick.”

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Kupchak said the Hornets had no holdouts on the decision to take Miller.

“In the end, there was 100 percent consensus,” Kupchak said. “Although it came down to two players and it wasn’t the easiest of decisions, but he was the player we felt all along would be the best pick at No. 2. And there was a lot of spirited discussion, but at the end of the process, everybody was on the same page and everybody supported each other.”

Miller’s draft stock might have taken a tumble based on his involvement in a Jan. 15 incident on the Strip in Tuscaloosa during which 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris was shot and killed, but Kupchak said the Hornets had no qualms about drafting Miller.

“We discussed this a couple of days ago,” Kupchak said on Thursday night. “With every pick, especially with a pick this high and this valuable, we do a lot of background work, a lot of due diligence. We contact a lot of people. In fact, (Hornets assistant general manager) Buzz (Peterson) and I went to Alabama for two days about two weeks ago. Without naming a full list of people, obviously, you’re going to go visit with the coach and with people at the university and make sure you get a good feel.

“Over the course of the year, we do a lot of investigative intel, so to speak, whether it’s reading articles in the newspaper, you bump into people, you go to games, you watch body language on the court, you talk to people, you bump into people, so it’s a process. But with a pick this high, you’re going to a little bit extra due diligence than you normally would, and, yeah, we’re comfortable.”

Darius Miles, a former Alabama basketball player, and Michael “Buzz” Davis are charged with capital murder in the shooting. Davis is accused of firing the gun that killed Harris after getting the weapon from Miles.

Miles had retrieved the gun from Miller’s car, where authorities say he left it after catching a ride to the Strip with his teammate following an SEC victory over LSU. The windshield of Miller’s car was struck twice in the exchange of gunfire in which Harris died.

“Brandon never touched the gun, was not involved in its exchange to Mr. Davis in any way and never knew that illegal activity involving the gun would occur,” Tuscaloosa attorney Jim Standridge wrote in a statement on behalf of Miller, who was not charged.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.