Background and career
Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played his entire 18-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Indiana Pacers. Widely recognized as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, he was known for his precision three-point shooting, especially in pressure situations and most notably against the New York Knicks, for which he earned the nickname "Knick Killer". A five-time All-Star selection, Miller was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021. Miller played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, earning third-team All-American honors as a junior in 1986. He was selected by Indiana in the first round of the 1987 NBA draft with the 11th overall pick. When he retired from playing, Miller held the NBA record for most career 3-point field goals made. As of 2026, his 2,560 three-pointers ranked seventh on the all-time list, behind Stephen Curry, James Harden, Ray Allen, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, and LeBron James. Miller led the league in free throw percentage five times and won a gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics. His jersey number 31 was retired by the Pacers in 2006. Miller is widely regarded as the Pacers' greatest player of all time. After his playing career, he became an NBA commentator for TNT and college basketball analyst for CBS Sports.
Miller was born in Riverside, California, and attended Riverside Polytechnic High School. He was born with hip deformities, which prevented him from walking correctly. After a few years of continuously wearing braces on both legs, his leg strength grew enough to compensate. One of five siblings, he comes from an athletic family. His brother Darrell is a former Major League Baseball player; his sister Tammy played volleyball at Cal State Fullerton; and his older sister Cheryl is also a Hall of Fame basketball player. Cheryl was a member of the 1984 U.S. gold medal-winning Olympic basketball team and is an analyst for Turner Sports. One of the family anecdotes Reggie likes to recall was when Cheryl used to beat him in games of 1-on-1 prior to his professional career. According to Reggie, they quit playing when he could finally block Cheryl's shots. Miller says his unorthodox shooting style was developed to arc his shot over his sister's constant shot blocking. His brother, Saul Jr., became a musician and followed in his father's footsteps in military service.
Miller attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he received a degree in history. In the 1984–85 NCAA season he helped the UCLA Bruins to an NIT championship. In Miller's senior season, 1986–87, he was an All-Pac-10 selection for the second straight year, and led the Bruins to a Pacific-10 regular-season championship and the first Pac-10 tournament championship. The three-point field goal was added for the 1986–87 season; 69 of Miller's 247 field goals that year were three-pointers. One of his most memorable performances was in the January 24, 1987, game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where he hit a 24-foot (7.3 m) shot to put the Bruins ahead 62–59 with 10 seconds left. Another notable game was a win against defending national champion Louisville and Pervis Ellison on February 28, 1987, where Miller scored 33 points in the second half, which is still the school record. Miller's final game was a loss in the second round of the 1987 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament to Wyoming. He finished second in all-time scoring at UCLA behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As of 2009, Miller still holds the UCLA single-season records for most league points, highest league scoring average, and most free throws. He also holds several individual game records. UCLA retired his No. 31 jersey in 2013, and he was inducted into the Pac-12 Conference Hall of Honor in 2010.
Miller was selected by the Pacers with the 11th pick in the first round of the 1987 NBA draft. Fans were initially upset that the Pacers chose Miller over New Castle, Indiana, native Steve Alford; fans watching the 1987 NBA draft booed Pacers President Donnie Walsh for the selection. Miller wore jersey number 31 while playing for the Pacers, backing up shooting guard John Long before he became a starter. Miller gained a respectable reputation early in his career as he led the Indiana Pacers to become a perennial playoff team. After Chuck Person was traded from the Pacers during the 1992 offseason, Miller established himself as the Pacers' primary scoring threat. On November 28, 1992, he scored a career-high 57 points against the Charlotte Hornets in a 134–122 win at Charlotte Coliseum. In this game, Miller hit 16 of 29 field goals, 4 of 11 3-pointers, and 21 of 23 free throws. The 57 points he scored was the second-highest total in the NBA during the 1992–93 season (only Michael Jordan's 64 against Orlando on January 16 was higher), and still stands today as the Pacers' NBA franchise team record, although George McGinnis holds the Pacers all-time franchise record with 58 points in an ABA game.
Miller became a household name during the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks, due to a phenomenal shooting performance in Game 5 on June 1, 1994, in which he scored 39 points (25 in the fourth quarter alone) in the Pacers' 93–86 victory at Madison Square Garden. Miller made several long 3-pointers during the quarter and engaged in an animated discussion of his ongoing performance with noted Knicks fan Spike Lee, who was, as always, seated courtside. The win gave the Pacers a 3–2 series lead over the heavily favored Knicks, but they lost the next two games and the series.
On May 7, 1995, Miller scored eight unanswered points in 8.9 seconds in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Knicks, leading the Pacers to a 107–105 victory. With 18.7 seconds remaining and the Pacers trailing 105–99, Miller took the inbound pass from Mark Jackson, made a 3-pointer, stole the inbound pass from Anthony Mason, dribbled back behind the arc and tied the game with another 3, stunning the crowd at Madison Square Garden. On the ensuing possession, Knicks guard John Starks was fouled by Sam Mitchell. Starks missed both free throws, and although Patrick Ewing managed to get the offensive rebound, his shot was just a bit long and hit the back rim. Miller got the rebound and was fouled with 7.5 seconds left. He made both free throws. Trailing by 2, New York had one last chance to win the game but failed to get a shot off, giving the Pacers a shocking 1–0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Pacers outlasted the Knicks in seven games before losing to the Orlando Magic in the Conference Finals in seven games, just like the previous year against the Knicks. Near the end of the 1996 season, Miller fell to the floor and suffered an eye injury, leaving him unable to play in the playoffs until Game 5 of the first round against the Atlanta Hawks, where he wore goggles until the Pacers were eliminated. Around this time, Miller hosted a talk show on WTHR called The Reggie Miller Show. Following the 1996 season, Miller became a free agent for the first time, and after lengthy negotiations that lasted right up until the start of training camp in late September, the Pacers and Miller eventually agreed on a 4-year, $36 million contract. After missing the playoffs in the 1997 season, the Pacers returned to the postseason in 1998. They defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers and Knicks en route to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they faced Michael Jordan and the defending champion Bulls. On May 25, 1998, the Pacers trailed Chicago 2–1 in the series and were behind 94–93 in Game 4 at home in Market Square Arena with 2.9 seconds left. Miller got free from Jordan, caught the inbound pass from Derrick McKey, turned and made a game-winning 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds to go. The Pacers eventually pushed the series to Game 7 in Chicago, where the Pacers led in the fourth quarter before fading in the final two minutes. The Bulls won 88–83 and went on to win their sixth and final championship of the Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen era. With Jordan retired, Miller and the Pacers were considered a favorite in the East heading into the lockout-shortened 1999 season. After earning the No. 2 seed in the East, the Pacers once again met the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, where the eighth-seeded Knicks upset the Pacers in six games. In the decisive sixth game, Miller had one of the worst performances of his career, scoring just eight points on 3-of-18 shooting from the field. He missed all but one of his eight 3-point attempts.
