contract extension with the Nuggets<\/a>. \u201cKind of felt like you\u2019re kind of against them for a little bit. But I think it worked out really, really well. I was really, really happy with the outcome. I\u2019m very grateful for everybody involved.\u201d<\/p>\nBraun, 24, is suddenly under contract through 2031, longer than anyone on Denver\u2019s roster as the 2025-26 season nears. The shooting guard signed his rookie extension hours before Monday\u2019s deadline for 2022 first-round picks to do so. Denver wanted to prioritize a long-term deal in exchange for a slightly lower average annual value as the team faces salary cap challenges in future years, league sources told The Denver Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a little stressful,\u201d Braun said. \u201cLike I said, I don\u2019t like the negotiations just because you feel like you\u2019re against people you love and people you care about. But I\u2019m just really excited for the way it went down and just really happy that it\u2019s over with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Braun described the contract as \u201cvalidation\u201d and expressed relief that he can go into the new season, which begins Thursday for the Nuggets, with a clear mind on winning. He averaged 15.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game last season, making him a candidate for the NBA\u2019s Most Improved Player award in his third year. Now he enters his fourth with a starting job secured.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got drafted here,\u201d he said. \u201cI never changed schools or teams in high school. I never changed in college. And I don\u2019t want to change (teams) in the NBA. I want to be here. I want to be a big part of winning. I want to be a really big part of what happens here and the success that happens in Denver. I want to be a big part of the community. I want to be around these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 21, 2025 at 1:16 PM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christian Braun probably won\u2019t have a career as an agent after he\u2019s done playing basketball. \u201cNegotiations are kind…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[2276,7,561,765,2102,301,187,3943,766,165,252,6,302,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-356949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-ball-arena","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-christian-braun","11":"tag-colorado","12":"tag-contract","13":"tag-denver","14":"tag-denver-nuggets","15":"tag-denvernuggets","16":"tag-front-range","17":"tag-latest-headlines","18":"tag-more-nuggets-news","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-nuggets","21":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115414197328809774","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}