Christian Braun on wanting to be a Nugget for life, "3 potential All-Stars" and NBA title optimism (EXCLUSIVE)

It only took one pickup game....... Then, Denver Nuggets forward Bruce Brown saw what made Christian Braun special even during his rookie season. Then, Brown envisioned how Braun could transform from an No. 21 pick intent on hustling in every play to a valued rotation player on an NBA title team (2023) with his dependable defense and 3-point shooting.

“Everything he’s done, I said during his rookie year that he could do,” Brown said. “I literally said that he could do what he’s doing now. So I’m not surprised at all. He needed more confidence and more time out there on the floor. So the sky is the limit for that guy.”

So much that Braun could have an increased role alongside Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon during his fourth NBA season. So much that Braun might receive a significant pay increase either with an extension or next summer when he might become a restricted free agent. It wouldn’t be surprising. Last season, Braun posted career-highs in scoring (15.4 points per game), shooting percentage from the field (58%), from deep (39.7%) and from the free-throw line (82.7%) as well as in rebounds (5.2) and assists (2.6).

Ben Tenzer, the Nuggets’ executive vice president of basketball operations, and Jon Wallace, the franchise’s new executive vice president of player personnel, declined to discuss specifics during Media Day on where things stand with extension negotiations. But Wallace revealed that “we have had preliminary conversations” and stressed that Braun represents “a large part of what we do.” After all, Braun has won a championship in high school (Blue Valley Northwest High School), in college (University of Kansas) and in the NBA (Nuggets).

“Christian is a pedigree guy. He has won at every single level,” Wallace told reporters. “He’s got the respect not only within our organization amongst our team, but across the NBA.”

Following the Nuggets’ first training camp practice at University of California San Diego, Braun spoke to Sportskeeda about his possible extension and his allegiance to the Nuggets as well as the team’s various offseason roster moves. Braun also spoke extensively about Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, former Nuggets coach Michael Malone, former general manager Calvin Booth and coach David Adelman on how they all helped him.

Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and condensed.

For year four, you said that you need to prove yourself. What do you think you have to prove?

Braun: “I just think that I always have something to prove. I think that’s everybody’s job in this league – that’s to come in each year, add something and continue to prove who you are. I got new guys that are older, are All-Stars and new coaches. I got to prove stuff to the new staff. I got to continue to prove stuff to Nikola, Jamal and Aaron. So I feel like I always have something to prove to somebody. This year, we have a whole new staff. So it adds a couple of things.”

You showed your value your first three seasons as a defender and 3-point shooter. But given that new dynamic, what did you do this offseason to prepare for everything?

Braun: “I just try to continue to be good at what I’ve been good at. I think this team really simplifies my role. That makes it pretty easy on me to identify what I need to do to help the team. Like you just said, it’s normally defense and 3s. It’s also running in transition and finishing. As long as I can continue to get better and better at those things, then Nikola will put me in the spots and make it really easy on me. So I don’t have to add too many crazy things to my game. I don’t have to work on things that I’m not good at. I got to continue to improve my weaknesses. So I’ll try to add a couple of things. But I’ll continue to refine and get really good at the things that got me here.”

What do you think your weaknesses are?

Braun: “There are weaknesses you can identify that you’re not good at. But I don’t know if my other weaknesses are the same as other people because I don’t technically have to do them. I don’t have to shoot off the dribble as much. I don’t have to work on my isolation and mid-range. Those things aren’t really my role for this team. So I would say those are my weaknesses --- isolation scoring, shooting off the dribble and mid-range scoring. But like I said, I don’t have to do that as much in the regular season. I just have to get better at it. That’s not my role. I have a good understanding of what my role is. So I work on those things. But I spend way more time trying to get really good at the things that I’m really good at doing.”

I remember talking to you two years ago on how you prepared to meet the moment in high school, college and then your rookie season during the regular season and championship run. How did you meet the moment last season with both thriving in a bigger role and navigating external issues with team injuries and the dynamic between your former coach (Malone) and GM (Booth)?

Braun: “I’m always grateful for the people who put me in those spots. I understand that Calvin Booth paved my way. He drafted me and paved my way to get that opportunity. So I’m grateful for him. Coach Malone threw me in the Finals as a rookie and played me a ton of minutes my whole career. So I’m grateful for those people for putting me in those spots. I’m grateful for what Nikola has done for me, what Jamal has done for me and what Aaron has done for me up until this point.

So I’m being grateful and understand that your opportunity is going to come. When it does, you don’t get a second chance. I try to strike when I do get those opportunities. So I'm just preparing for the work. I don’t try to do anything extra. I try to identify what the team needs me to do and nothing else, nothing extra. I think that’s what people have a hard time doing. They’re not finding what the team needs and trying to do what they’re good at. Sometimes you just have to find what the team needs, and then get really good at that. I found what the team needs and understood that I would get an opportunity, whether it was to take open 3s, finish at the rim and play defense. So I tried to be as good as I possibly could be at those three things.

Then I gained the trust of Nikola, gained the trust of Coach and respected the game. When those opportunities came to me, I did a good job at maximizing those opportunities. I understood that those guys trusted me. So I wanted to just prove myself every single day with the little things: not be late, get on the first bus and do all the little things so that people trust me and that I do get those opportunities and those spots. Then I know my work will take over from there.”

When you talk about how much Nikola, Jamal and Aaron have done for you, what comes to mind?

Braun: “I can go down the line, but it’s not just those three. I mentioned Coach [Malone], Calvin and everybody who is here now with DA (coach David Adelman). DA in the playoffs, Michael [Malone], DJ [DeAndre Jordan], Ish Smith, Jeff Green, Russ [Russell Westbrook]. I can go down the line. But as far as those three guys that you named, there’s not a guy maybe in the world that has done more for me outside of my family than Nikola has. He’s taught me how to be a professional. He has gone out of his way to grab me, whether it’s a stretch with Felipe [Eichenberger] five minutes before practice. He made me do those stretches with him. He showed me his work ethic and why he does what he does. I watched him and heard him talk me through those things. Obviously, that’s off the court. What Nikola has done for me on the court, I’ll forever be grateful for that, too. Everyday my job is to gain his trust and continue his work and be ready for every position that he’s put me in.

With Jamal, it’s different. Jamal challenges me before we go on the court. He says, ‘Can you do this? I want to see you do this?’ So Jamal has been great for me. He was my locker room neighbor my last few years. So we have talked a lot. With Aaron, it’s the same way. He’s competitive. He pushes you. He’s helped me out in a lot of different ways. So those three guys have obviously been huge outside of the coaches and the front office and the Kroenke family. I’m grateful for everybody around this organization. They have put me in great spots. But Nikola especially has been really, really big for me. I’m forever grateful for that.”

You said at Media Day that you don’t want to be anywhere besides with the Denver Nuggets. Beyond the obvious team and personal success, what is it about this environment that makes you want to stay here long term?

Braun: “That has been my whole career. I have wanted to win in one spot. I played with the same AAU team for seven years. I never switched up my AAU team. I was with my same high school coach my whole career and never switched high schools. I was at Kansas. I thought about leaving Kansas, but I couldn’t do it. I just wanted to be in the same spot. You gain a relationship with those people and trust with those people. So that’s who I am as a person. We’ve won here [in 2023]. I know what it takes to win. I know what it takes to win with this group and with this organization. I became really close with a lot of the guys around here. So being a Nugget means a lot to me.

That’s part of who I am. I want to be in one spot. I take a lot of pride in wearing the Nuggets jersey. I’m very grateful for what they have done for me and they drafted me. I understand the business of everything. I’m just very grateful for them. With me being grateful for what they have done for me and the position that they’ve put me in, that really makes me want to win here. I want to win as a Nugget. I don’t want to win anywhere else. Me winning as a Nugget means more than something somewhere else. Being grateful for the people here drives me to want to win in a Nuggets uniform.”

Do you and your reps have any gauge on what their plan is for your future?

Braun: “I have no idea. But it’s not my job. My job is not to worry about that stuff, whether it’s contracts or anything that is going on in the front office. I’ll let other people handle that. I’ll just continue to put the work in and continue to prove myself to them to whoever it is – the new staff, the new GMs, the new coaches. I’m grateful for the opportunities that they give me, and I just need to prove myself. If I do that, I understand the rest will take care of itself. I also understand that if it doesn’t get done, winning takes care of that, too. My main priority is to get better as an individual and get better as a team and win. Ultimately if we win, I know that I got to be taken care of.”

What was your reaction when you heard Jokić say, ‘my plan is to be with the Nuggets forever?’

Braun: “I’ve always known that. That’s who he’s always been. I’ve always known he always wants to be a Nugget, and only a Nugget. I think my approach is similar to his approach. Or I want my approach to be as close to his as possible. I think his approach is great with the way he approaches the game and the way he approaches winning. He wants to be a Nugget like he said. I’ve always known that. I understand what he does for my game. So my job is to be as good for him as I possibly can be and help him win as much as I possibly can. That’s why I want to be a Nugget. Playing with him has been great for me.”

Jokić said he wants to improve his leadership this season and be more vocal. What do you think he has shown?

Braun: “As far as how I view it, he is as good of a leader as you can find with by example. I don’t think you can find a better leader by example. He approaches winning the right way. He goes hard in every rep. You see him on optional shooting buses. He’s always in the gym. He’s always at the training table. He’s always getting body work. He prioritizes basketball. He prioritizes winning. To me, that is what a leader does. He leads in different ways than what other people might lead. So we also need other people to step up and lead. Those guys, especially in the playoffs, have trusted me in a way to talk to guys through things and to speak up in that way. You need everybody to lead in a certain way. But Jokić’s way of leading is with the way he works and how he wants to win. Everybody has a different role with leadership for us, in my opinion. But Jokić does it by example and with the way he works.”

Adelman and the front office praised Jamal for his leadership with bringing guys together in the offseason. What did he do?

Braun: “Jamal being in the gym is big for this team. He’s always in the gym. But he was in the gym earlier this summer. I think that’s what they’re talking about. He was in the gym early. He was playing with the young guys. He was playing pickup. He wasn’t sitting out and doing his own work. He was with us, playing 3-on-3 with us and playing 1-on-1 with us. Jamal is a competitive leader. Everybody leads in their own way. But Jamal is competitive as hell. So when Jamal gets going, that gets everybody else going. I think his spirit, the way he leads and the way he plays on the court is contagious. The way he approached this summer with being in the gym and his attitude, you just take a look in his eye. You can see how badly he wants it. I think that’s always good for everybody. If you see Jamal Murray doing it, then you want to do it, too.”

There were a lot of roster changes. What do you think you lose with trading MPJ [Michael Porter Jr.], but gain with Cam [Johnson]?

Braun: “Obviously we lost a lot. When you lose a guy like Michael Porter, he has been so good for us. He’s been around this team for a long time. He knows what this team is about. He’s tough as nails. He’s been a guy that has played significantly more games the last few years. He has been through injuries, but he’s been tough. It’s tough to lose a guy like that who we hung a banner [in 2023] with. MPJ has been around and been a part of our championship. He was a good leader for us and an older guy that has been around the league.

But you get a guy like Cam Johnson, who is a potential All-Star. He was huge in Brooklyn. He’s a great player. He has a really good mindset. He’s the same way. He has a good approach. He’s a worker. You see him in the gym all summer. I got to golf with him a little bit. He’s a good dude. We have a good dude. He’s been around the league, so that’s important for us.”

How about team wide? You all lose Russ,

[Dario] Sarić and DJ. But you also get [Jonas] Valančiūnas, Tim Hardaway and Bruce Brown is back. What do you think comes with all the changes?

Braun: “DJ was huge for me. I talked to him and I texted him. I asked him little questions here or there. He always answered the phone. I appreciated that about DJ. With Russ, it was the same way. You can reach out to Russ, and he always picks up the phone. Russ was huge. He always showed me how to compete. That was really cool for me. Getting to watch Russ and getting to compete with Russ in that role we were both in was great. Russ was huge for us. Dario was huge for us in the playoffs with his voice. We lost a lot and understand that. But what we gained is everything we’ve been asking for. Everything that we’ve wanted is what each guy has been asking for. There’s new energy with the coaches. Cam Johnson is a shooter. Tim Hardaway is a shooter. We got veterans. We got young guys. So everything we’ve asked for is in our building. And Bruce has been a Nugget the whole time. He’s back. But Bruce Brown has been a Nugget even since we won a championship.”

Bruce was just talking about you about your growth from afar since your rookie season. He said he saw your potential immediately. What did you see in yourself on what your trajectory might be?

Braun: “I don’t know if you can guess this. But to hear that from Bruce is really cool because a lot of the stuff I do is what I learned from him. I think I took a lot of pieces of his game. I love the way he plays. I love the passion he plays with. The same pride I play for Denver is something I think Bruce takes the same pride. So I learned a lot from him. But I don’t know if I view myself as anything. I tried to learn as much as I could as I went. That’s been the same thing my whole life. When I went to college, nobody knew what I was capable of doing. I tried to work my way into each role and identify what the team needed. I think that’s what I did here. I’m grateful for Nikola trusting me, as well as all the coaches and GMs that put me in that spot.

I’m grateful for them. But you can’t always see that. I’m not a guy that people viewed as having a lot of potential. But I just wanted to work and gain the trust of my teammates. I understood if I got on the court that I would make the most of it.”

You said earlier the importance about the team playing with playoff intensity in every game. How do you all do that?

Braun: “It’s hard to do, especially playing 82 games. I’m a guy where my biggest goal is to play 82 games. So it is hard to do. But I think a lot of it comes from the culture and the standard that you set from day one. Today was a really good first day for us. As long as we’re coming in playing the right way and playing hard, we’ll be okay. I think we’re so talented. We’re so talented that last year we were trying to outscore people sometimes. Then you get lazy. That’s not a good recipe for winning long term. Last year, we waited and then kicked it on. We’re so good that we could beat teams that way. But we want to be a team where we don’t hang our hat on offense. The good teams always hang their hat on defense. As good as OKC was on offense and every championship, they were also a good defensive team. We are that in the playoffs. But we need to do that every game in the regular season. That comes from leadership. That comes from sticking to who we are.”

You all obviously have a case to contend this season with already winning two years ago, having Jokić and a lot of depth and continuity. But what is your comfort level on whether that’s enough against the Thunder and any other contender in the field?

Braun: “Oh, it is. Anytime you got Jokić, you have a chance to win. We have Jokić and three potential All-Stars [Murray, Gordon, Johnson]. We have young guys. We have older guys. We have guys that have been there. Everything we need is in our locker room now. I think that’s the biggest part. We know we have everything we need. Now it’s just a part of coming together as a team and getting to know each other. That’s the biggest emphasis from DA [David Adelman]. He’s saying to get to know each other and be around each other and understand that this opportunity doesn’t always happen.

It took DJ 16 years to win a championship. That was eye opening for me because this opportunity doesn’t come around for many people. You might never be on a team this talented ever again. That’s just how the NBA is. We have to understand that we got everything we need. We can’t make any excuses and look back. Last year, you’re asking for certain things and looking around. Now is not the time for that. Now is the time to win. Everything we’ve asked for, we have. Now we have a no-excuse year. We need to win.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.