MINNEAPOLIS — These were the moments that convinced the Nuggets to pay Christian Braun $125 million: wide open court, a full head of steam and unlimited highlight potential.
As he charged up the middle of the floor last Thursday, they could almost start to picture Game 7 back home. The Nuggets were on a 7-0 run in the third quarter of Game 6. They had held Minnesota scoreless for three minutes. They were finally about to reclaim the lead in a game they were supposed to control from the outset.
They had momentum. Braun had momentum. Nikola Jokic fed him the ball in transition, as he’s done hundreds of times. One of the best fast-break scorers in the NBA had only one backpedaling defender between him and the basket. But as he entered the paint with his second dribble, he accidentally left the ball behind — an unforced turnover that summed up Braun’s physically uncomfortable and statistically unproductive series.
The Timberwolves took advantage, collecting the loose ball and scoring a go-ahead layup. It was one of Denver’s last chances to take the lead in an eventual season-ending loss.
Braun’s reluctance around the rim was often a noticeable theme of the first-round playoff series, which the Nuggets lost 4-2, condemning them to a long offseason. Like Jokic and Jamal Murray, the fourth-year guard volunteered to take the blame. Hindered by multiple injuries — one well documented, one kept private — Braun struggled to supply the athleticism Denver desperately needed with Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson both out of the lineup. Defeat left a poor taste in his mouth.
“It’s just unacceptable. Especially with the talent we have on this roster,” Braun said. “I think when we come here every single year, we talk about championships. That’s our mindset and our goal. And obviously, we fell short. A first-round exit’s not acceptable. We’ve gotta bounce back. We’ve gotta get to work. … You can kind of put it on my shoulders. I think this team wasn’t resilient enough in the playoffs.”
When asked to elaborate, he said the lack of resilience was a reflection of him.
“I just think I’m the leader of this team,” Braun said. “I’m the vocal leader of this team. And when we don’t play well as a whole, you can blame whatever you want … You can blame anything. But I didn’t play well enough as an individual, and I didn’t have this team ready enough to play in a tough series. So we’ll be better. I’ll be better. I’m looking forward to next year, when we can respond.”
Injuries limit Braun’s explosiveness
That’s assuming, of course, that he’s still on the roster. Braun knows well that underachieving in the NBA tends to breed scrutiny and speculation. The future of Denver’s core around Jokic has rarely been more in doubt than it is after failing to win a playoff series for the first time in four years.
Braun averaged 8.3 points and 3.5 rebounds in 31 minutes per game in the playoffs. Despite his down year as a 3-point shooter, his 6-for-14 clip against Minnesota (42.9%) was ironically a minor bright spot in a series in which Denver’s perimeter shooting as a whole dried up.
But his volume from deep wasn’t nearly high enough to make a difference, and he struggled inside the arc, missing 13 of his 22 shot attempts from 2-point range. He often pulled the ball out of the paint instead of trying to finish strong at the rim. It was his attack mindset in his third NBA season that helped him earn a five-year, $125 million rookie extension from the Nuggets. He signed it the day before the 2025-26 season. It goes into effect next year. He’s currently under contract longer than anyone else on the roster.
“I was rewarded for my work on my rookie deal, so I understand the expectations are higher, and I need to be better,” Braun said. “That just is what it is. So as an individual, I understand I need to get better. I need to play better. I get to get healthy, first and foremost. But there is no excuse.”
Braun missed 38 games during the regular season after suffering a severe left ankle sprain on Nov. 12. He initially tried to return on Jan. 4, but after struggling for three games, it was clear he wasn’t ready. He was able to run. He wasn’t able to jump. He went back on the shelf for another three weeks, then spent the rest of the season growing accustomed to a routine of postgame treatment on the ankle. He had torn the ligaments on the inside and outside of it. It was the first serious injury of his basketball career. It continued to swell up during the playoffs.
Meanwhile, he also sustained an injury and developed swelling in his left calf in Game 1 against the Timberwolves, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. It exacerbated Braun’s inability to explode off the ground — his left leg is the one he usually pushes off of when he jumps.
With 20 seconds left in Game 2, he was flat-footed in the dunker spot when Jokic passed up a floater to dump him the ball underneath the basket. The Timberwolves collapsed to Braun before he could jump for a layup attempt. He drew a foul, only to miss a critical free throw that would have tied the game. Jokic admitted afterward that he should’ve taken the shot.
In the last four games of the series, Braun averaged 5.5 points on 6-for-17 shooting. The Nuggets lost his minutes by a combined 37 points in their three road losses at Minnesota.
“Any season for me that doesn’t end with a championship, I think, is a disappointment,” Braun said when asked about his individual season. “… I could sit here and make every excuse. I could blame my ankle. I could blame injuries that people don’t know about. But that doesn’t really matter. If I’m going to be on the court, the expectation is to win. The expectation is to play well.”
Offseason roster questions loom
If the Nuggets were to move on from Braun this offseason, it’s widely believed that they would need to attach other assets in a trade to get another team to take on his contract. They currently have no future first-round draft picks eligible to be traded, after using their 2032 pick to move off Michael Porter Jr.’s hefty salary last summer. They can, however, trade this year’s first-round pick on draft night if they so choose.
More likely, Denver will need Braun to get healthy and prove that his 2024-25 season wasn’t an anomaly. He was a candidate for Most Improved Player that year, leading all NBA guards in true shooting percentage with a 66.5% clip, ranking fourth overall behind three centers. He did that while guarding the opponent’s best perimeter player most nights. He averaged 15.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists, leading the league in fast-break points.
That and a vote of confidence from Jokic guided the Nuggets to prioritize him over Peyton Watson in preseason extension talks, a league source said. Now it’s Watson who’s coming off a breakout year, while Braun faces scrutiny about what he is and can be as an NBA starter. He’s never been a high-volume 3-point shooter, but his percentage dropped from 39.7% to 30.1% this season. His scoring efficiency in transition also declined marginally. His true shooting took a 5.8% hit. At the other end of the floor, he’s been good throughout his career but hasn’t ascended to All-Defensive Team levels.
As the Nuggets assess their roster needs this summer, he expects to be an internal solution by rediscovering the spring in his step.
“We were a historic offense during the regular season. We were so good. Even with guys in and out, we were really good,” he said. “And that just didn’t translate into the playoffs this year. And that goes on every one of us. It goes on the screener who’s getting guys open, whoever’s taking the shot. I need to be more aggressive with the ball and go downhill better. There’s a ton of things you can blame. You can’t point at Jok and all those guys. They’re killers. That’s what they do every night. So we’ve gotta help those guys. I’ve gotta help those guys. Whether it’s screening well, whether it’s bringing the ball up and taking care of it, we’ve just gotta be better. And I know we will moving forward.”
