Consider Christian Braun an official member of the Nuggets’ core.
Braun has agreed to a five-year, $125 million extension that will keep him in Denver through the summer of 2031, a league source told The Denver Post. His second NBA contract will take effect in 2026-27 after he makes $4.9 million this upcoming season, the last of his rookie-scale deal.
The extension does not include a player option or club option, according to a league source.
Monday afternoon was the deadline for 2022 first-round picks entering the last year of their rookie contracts to sign extensions. The Nuggets, who begin their season Thursday at Golden State, selected Braun 21st overall out of Kansas.
The shooting guard is coming off a breakout year. Replacing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the Nuggets’ starting lineup, Braun averaged 15.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists while often guarding the opponent’s best player at the defensive end. He led all NBA guards in true shooting percentage with a 66.5% clip that ranked fourth overall behind three centers, and he was the only player in the league to score five fast-break points per game.
“I don’t want to be anywhere besides being a Denver Nugget,” he said this preseason during negotiations. “I think everybody knows that.”
A rookie when the Nuggets won their first NBA championship in 2023, Braun will be their fifth-highest paid player next season, and their fourth with an average annual value of $25 million or more. The Nuggets are currently set to pay about $193 million in guaranteed salary to six players in the 2026-27 league year. That’s not including Jonas Valanciunas’s $10 million non-guaranteed salary and four other players with team options totaling $13 million.
Denver’s new lead executives, Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace, had Braun’s extension in mind as part of the calculus when they traded Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn this summer. He was set to make $40 million in 2026-27, occupying a massive chunk of the salary cap that would’ve made it nearly impossible for the team to both reward Braun and maintain a balanced payroll for depth purposes. Aaron Gordon also has a $9 million raise going into effect next season.
Now, with Braun’s extension done and Cam Johnson replacing Porter, the team’s full starting lineup is under contract for the next two seasons: Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Gordon, Braun and Johnson. Jokic, who has a 2027 player option, could have signed his own extension this offseason but elected to delay contract negotiations until next summer, when he can increase his earnings, team sources told The Post in July.
One of Braun’s accomplishments in Denver has been his ability to learn from and endear himself to the franchise superstar. “The guy’s a winner,” Jokic said last season. “Whenever he makes a mistake, I’m never mad at him.”
They’ve developed a tradition of foot-racing each other onto the court before home games. Braun has observed Jokic’s habits while learning what it takes to be an NBA starter. “When Joker goes out (to warm up) at six minutes (left in halftime), he never misses that,” he told The Post once. “So one thing I learned: I had to go out there earlier. … I had to move around a little bit and stay warm.”
The Kansas-born and raised wing has even picked up on certain Serbian philosophies while working with the same Nuggets player development coach as Jokic, Ognjen “Ogi” Stojakovic.
“He practices the same way every time. He wants perfect reps,” Braun has said. “They don’t do a lot of reps. But they do perfect reps. In the U.S., a lot of it’s like, ‘Let’s shoot 2,000 shots.’ And over there, it’s like, ‘Let’s shoot 200 shots, but 200 perfect shots.’”
Braun’s 3-point volume and efficiency have improved all three years he’s been in the NBA. After a 39.7% season on 2.8 attempts per game, the next step will be to earn more consistent respect from opposing defenses — he converted only 30% of his 3s during the 2025 playoffs with defenders often helping off of him.
Still, his overall effectiveness as a player has generally transcended an outside shooting percentage. The Nuggets use him as a cutter, a screener in inverted pick-and-rolls, a slasher and a secondary ball-handler. He’s made strides as a rebounder when he isn’t leaking out in transition, and his 6-foot-6 frame has allowed him to handle tough defensive matchups against guards and bigger wings.
One of Denver’s most athletic players, Braun also amassed 94 dunks last season, continuing to assemble an impressive poster collection with memorable slams over the likes of Rudy Gobert and Brook Lopez.