Christian Braun heard the noise. All summer, in fact. And now he is done being polite about it.
Speaking at Nuggets media day this week, the fourth-year guard directly addressed the offseason chatter about whether Denver made a mistake giving him an expanded role after Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left in free agency. The doubts are motivating him, Braun said, and he welcomes the extra fire.
The doubts are not unreasonable. Braun had a rough close to last season, dealing with an ankle issue that limited him in the playoffs and clearly affected his shot. Denver ended up sputtering out of the postseason, and Braun’s late-season slump was a big part of the story.
The Nuggets front office bet on him anyway. They handed him a starting spot on the wing and made no meaningful additions at his position, essentially telling Braun the job is his to lose. That is a big vote of confidence, and Braun clearly took it as such.
The context matters. Denver’s window with Nikola Jokic is now. Every year that goes by is a year the Nuggets are not adding another championship, and the roster around Jokic has been trending in the wrong direction for two offseasons. The front office needed a homegrown player to take a leap. Braun is that player, whether he wanted the pressure or not.
His skill set fits perfectly. He can guard multiple positions, he cuts hard off Jokic in the halfcourt, and when his three-ball is falling he is one of the better spot-up shooters on the roster. If he shoots the way he did in 2024 for a full year, this Nuggets team is a top-two seed in the West.
The rest of the roster has real question marks. Jamal Murray is entering his contract-heavy years with lingering knee issues. Aaron Gordon is dealing with a hamstring problem that could nag him into the season. Michael Porter Jr. is gone. That leaves Jokic, Murray, Braun, Gordon, and a mix of role players to try to survive a brutal Western Conference.
Braun’s response to the doubters was measured but pointed. He talked about spending the summer in the gym, said he studied a ton of tape on his defensive lapses, and made clear he expected to be an All-Defense candidate this year.
Those are bold words for a guy who has never made an All-Defense team before. That is exactly the confidence Denver needs from him.
Whether he backs it up will define the Nuggets season. Every deep run in Jokic’s career has required a supporting cast member to blow expectations away. This year, that job belongs to Christian Braun.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
