Braun enters the 2024-25 season with the possibility to take advantage of the opportunity he has been seeking during his entire career. The former Kansas standout spent the first two years of his NBA career as a depth option for the Nuggets and sitting behind Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the depth chart, but the latter signed with the Magic in the offseason, so Braun is slated to open the campaign as the starting shooting guard for one of the best teams in the Western Conference -- and a true championship contender. Braun already experienced a statistical output from his rookie to his sophomore year, seeing increases in virtually every major category except steals per game and field goal percentage. Braun is not going to hold a prominent role in an offense with two of the best offensive players in the league in Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. In fact, the most likely scenario is that he'll operate as the fifth scoring option, but the sole upgrade to a starting role should translate to a massive jump in terms of his fantasy upside, particularly since he's a player who does all the little things well. If he can continue to shoot well from three-point range after making a career-high 38.4 percent of his attempts in 2023-24, then Braun could go from being a player not worth targeting in 2023-24 to someone who could be worth a late pick in standard formats while carrying value in almost every league setting in 2024-25. Read Past Outlooks
$Signed a two-year, $5.76 million contract with the Nuggets in July of 2022. Nuggets exercised $3.09 million team option for 2024-25 in October of 2023. Contract includes $4.92 million team option for 2025-26.
Personal Bio/PreCareer Summary
Braun was born on April 17, 2001, in Burlington, Kansas. He played basketball for Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas. As a senior, he averaged 27.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, leading his team to a third straight Class 6A state title. He was named Mr. Kansas Basketball and Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year. Braun decided to stay close to home, committing to play ball for Kansas over offers from Kansas State, Illinois and Missouri, among others. As a freshman, Braun averaged 5.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, earning Big 12 All-Freshman Team honors. He gained a bigger role as a sophomore, averaging 9.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He was named to the Second Team All-Big 12 as a junior. He reached a milestone during the Final Four against Villanova, becoming the 65th player to reach 1,000 points for Kansas, finishing that game with 10 points and helping the Jayhawks reach the Finals. In the Finals against North Carolina, he had 12 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season, which helped Kansas rally from a 40-25 halftime deficit. In the final possession of that game, he defended Caleb Love's three-point attempt, sealing the win and giving him his first NCAA title. On April 24, 2022, Braun declared for the 2022 NBA Draft, while maintaining his college eligibility. On May 25, 2022, he confirmed he would remain in the NBA draft and forego his senior season. Braun was picked by the Denver Nuggets with the 21st overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft.
Logs 28 minutes in victory
GDenver Nuggets
May 14, 2024
Braun closed Tuesday's 112-97 victory over Minnesota in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals with 10 points (4-8 FG, 1-2 3Pt, 1-3 FT), five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal over 28 minutes.
ANALYSIS Braun continues to play meaningful minutes for the Nuggets, scoring double-digits for the second straight game. After failing to play more than 19 minutes during the first eight postseason games, he has now played 25 and 28 minutes respectively in each of the past two games. After reeling off three straight victories, the Nuggets now sit one win away from a trip to the Conference Finals.
2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - Starting/Off Bench
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2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - Days Rest
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2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - Vs Opp
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2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - By Result
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Advanced Stats
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2023
2022
Stat Review
How does Christian Braun compare to other players?
This section compares his stats with all players from the previous three seasons (minimum 200 minutes played)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
True Shooting %
An advanced statistic that measures a player's efficiency at shooting the ball that takes field goal percentage, free throw percentage, and three point percentage into account.
Effective Field Goal %
A statistic that adjusts field goal percentage to account for the fact that three-point field goals count for three points while field goals only count for two points.
3-Point Attempt Rate
Percentage of field goal attempts from three point range.
Free Throw Rate
Number of free throw attempts per field goal attempt.
Offensive Rebound %
An estimate of the percentage of available offensive rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor.
Defensive Rebound %
An estimate of the percentage of available defensive rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor.
Total Rebound %
An estimate of the percentage of available rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor.
Assist %
An estimate of the percentage of teammate field goals a player assisted while they were on the floor.
Steal %
An estimate of the percentage of opponent possessions that end with a steal by the player while they were on the floor.
Block %
An estimate of the percentage of opponent two-point field goal attempts blocked by the player while they were on the floor.
Turnover %
An estimate of turnovers committed per 100 plays.
Usage %
An estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while they were on the floor.
Fantasy Points Per Game
NBA Fantasy Points Per Game.
Fantasy Points Per Minute
NBA Fantasy Points Per Minute.
True Shooting %
55.4%
Effective Field Goal %
52.5%
3-Point Attempt Rate
34.0%
Free Throw Rate
27.7%
Offensive Rebound %
5.4%
Defensive Rebound %
14.8%
Total Rebound %
10.2%
Assist %
10.2%
Steal %
1.1%
Block %
1.8%
Turnover %
7.5%
Usage %
0.0%
Fantasy Points Per Game
16.4
Fantasy Points Per Minute
0.8
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Total
Per Game
Per 36
NBA Historical Fantasy Stats
How are these ratings calculated?
Our historical fantasy ratings are standard scores calculated using 8-Category settings with 12 teams and 13 players per team.
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NBA Per Game Historical Fantasy Stats
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NBA Per 36 Historical Fantasy Stats
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Historical ADP
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Nuggets Depth Chart
Our full team depth charts are reserved for RotoWire subscribers.
Average Fantasy Points are determined when Christian Braun was active vs. non-active during the season. Click here to view average fantasy points for a different time period.
Minutes
FanDuel
DraftKings
Yahoo
FantasyDraft
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Sorare
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2022
Although Braun's rookie season was a little underwhelming, he was able to carve out a solid role for himself, even deep into the playoffs. He ended outside the top 350 in nine-category leagues, averaging 4.7 points and 2.4 rebounds in just 15.5 minutes per night. However, he upped that to 20 minutes per night over the final month of the regular season, jumping inside the top 250. With Bruce Brown now in Indiana and only Reggie Jackson and possibly Justin Holiday to compete with for playing time, Braun could certainly feature more prominently from opening night. He is not someone who needs to be drafted outside of deeper formats but is worth keeping an eye on given his ability to chip in across multiple categories.
A three-year wing out of Kansas, Braun was selected with the 21st pick in the 2022 Draft by the Nuggets. While there are questions about his ability to score at volume at the NBA level, he should be an effective catch-and-shoot three option at a minimum. However, he also has the athleticism to drive, cut hard to the basket and make plays in transition. Braun was a strong defender in college, as well. He'll fight for backup minutes against Bruce Brown and Bones Hyland, but there's a chance Braun is a meaningful part of the rotation as a rookie. Playing with a savvy passer like Nikola Jokic should allow Braun to utilize his three-point shooting and athleticism effectively without needing to handle the ball. Fantasy managers in deep leagues have a reason to think about Braun with a final pick. If Kentavious Caldwell-Pope suffers an injury, Braun could be the next man up in the starting five.
More Fantasy News
Provides spark off bench
GDenver Nuggets
April 13, 2024
Braun logged 11 points (4-7 FG, 2-4 3Pt, 1-2 FT), three rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 23 minutes during Friday's 121-120 loss to the Spurs.
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Rejoins reserves
GDenver Nuggets
April 10, 2024
Braun will come off the bench for Wednesday's game against the Timberwolves.
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Set for starting role?
GDenver Nuggets
July 3, 2024
Braun is expected to move into the starting lineup in the 2024-25 regular season following the departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who signed with the Magic, according to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post.
ANALYSIS While Braun is a different player than Caldwell-Pope, there's a belief he can hold his own and replace KCP on the defensive end, as he's bigger and already considered an above-average defender by league standards. Braun has shot 37.3 percent from three-point range throughout his career, but he needs to improve his corner-three skill in order to effectively replace Caldwell-Pope as a reliable offensive threat.