4:35 pm: Braun has officially signed his five-year extension, the Nuggets announced (via Twitter).
1:35 pm: The Nuggets and guard Christian Braun have agreed to a five-year, $125MM rookie scale extension, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Twitter link). There are no team or player options in the agreement, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets.
Earlier on Monday, HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto indicated there was cautious optimism between the two parties than an extension agreement would be worked out. The new deal will begin in 2026/27.
After being an important member of the team’s bench unit during his first two years in Denver, Braun moved into the starting lineup last season following the departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency. The 21st pick of the 2022 draft posted career-high numbers across the board, averaging 15.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 79 games with .580/.397/.827 shooting splits.
Braun is the eighth player in his draft class to sign or agree to a rookie scale extension, joining Paolo Banchero, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith Jr., Keegan Murray, Nikola Jovic and Shaedon Sharpe.
The numbers that Braun and his agent Bill Duffy agreed to fall in the range of Smith’s agreement of five years and $122MM.
With this agreement, Denver has now committed to four of its starters through at least the 2027/28 season. Braun joins superstar Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray, though Jokic has a player option on his contract for ’27/28.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, the Nuggets also now have more than $193MM committed to six players for the 2026/27 season. The cap for next season projects to be $166MM, with a tax line of $201MM and aprons in the neighborhood of $210MM and $223MM.
This is very bad news for Hawks fans (such as myself) that were hoping Dyson’s extension wouldn’t cost more than $30M/yr
It’s 5y not 4y, so it’s 25m per year. Daniels is better defender but Braun is much better on offense, while having solid D. So Daniels should either bet on himself and wait offseason or take somewhere in between 20-25 range. If I remember correctly Hawks offered some 22, he should take it on 4 years with po .
Looks you just got some good news
Absolutely great news fr. This is like the 4th/5th guy in a row that has re-signed for less than he should have. Jalen, Onyeka both signed for less than they woulda got on the open market & so did Clint.
At first blush, I thought this was another reach financially for a rookie scale extension although locking up that core to be on the same timeline makes a lot of sense. Continuity wins in the NBA, in my opinion. Continuity loses when it’s overpowered by an obscene collection of high end talent, it’s increasingly harder to do that with the new cap provisions.
I’m just not as optimistic that these rookie scale will seem less onerous in the future. For Denver’s sake, here’s hoping he can be an ideal secondary scorer & playmaker, I just don’t really see that yet.
It’s a great time to be a role player in the nba
And a star, top draft pick, or owner. It is only the marginal value veterans and fringe roster guys getting squeezed. NBA is printing $$$
Holy overpay
lol 99% of the nba is overpaid