A veteran Denver Nuggets standout has heaped high praise on an extension-eligible teammate ahead of the 2025-26 regular season.
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Shooting guard Bruce Brown inked a one-year veteran's minimum deal to return to Denver, two years after signing a two-season, $45 million free agent contract with the Indiana Pacers and ditching the then-reigning champs.
At the time, Brown had thrived as a versatile, two-way sixth man with Denver, and was capitalizing on the clubs' good fortunes with a deal too rich for the Nuggets front office. Seventh man Jeff Green also left as a free agent, signing a two-year deal of his own with the Houston Rockets.
Christian Braun's Exciting Trajectory
The eighth man during that championship run in 2022-23, wing Christian Braun, was essentially promoted in their absence.
After the Nuggets let yet another free agent champion, former starting shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, leave in free agency the subsequent summer, Braun saw himself elevated into a starting role for 2024-25.
In that capacity, the 6-foot-6 Kansas product more than doubled his career scoring average, to 15.4 points on .580/.397/.827 shooting splits, while also logging NBA bests in rebounds (5.2), assists (2.6), steals (1.1) and blocks (0.5). Braun's deadline to ink an extension of his rookie-scale deal is October 20. Should he and Denver not agree to a new contract extension, he'll head into the summer of 2026 as a restricted free agent.
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Per Katy Winge of Altitude TV, a returning Bruce Brown has always had confidence in Christian Braun's upside.
Bruce Brown has known since Christian Braun’s rookie season he could be this good. pic.twitter.com/i8O3RVwfjN
— Katy Winge (@katywinge) September 30, 2025
"Everything he's done, I said rookie year that he could do," Brown said. "I literally said he could do what he's doing now. So, I'm not surprised at all. He just needed more confidence and more time out there on the floor. The sky's the limit for that guy."
Brown rejoins Braun on a revamped Denver club that is hoping to go a bit further than the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, where the team has been stopped short in each of its last two postseason campaigns.
"When he first got in," Brown said. "Playing pickup, he would show flashes, but he still wasn't confident in his game yet, because he was obviously new to the NBA. But, [I knew] very early."
In addition to Brown, the Nuggets also signed free agent swingman Tim Hardaway Jr., traded starting small forward Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets for the cheaper, better Cameron Johnson, and flipped unused center Dario Saric to the Sacramento Kings for Jonas Valanciunas.
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