Nuggets’ Christian Braun: ‘We’ve got everything we need’ to win a championship

In the last year or so the Denver Nuggets have dipped from among the championship favorites to playoff contenders but Christian Braun has pushed back on that narrative.

Denver’s two-way wing chatted with The Denver Post over the weekend at the Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood, home to his summer 2026 youth camp. He was working with the children while many of his Nuggets teammates, minus the star pairing of Nikola Jokic — who is playing for Serbia at the moment — and Jamal Murray, were in Puerto Rico together. The group, led by Aaron Gordon, is there for a minicamp of practices and a Bad Bunny show — already working on some of that all-important camaraderie that goes into rings.

“I mean, we’re going to add enough pieces, obviously. As long as we have Jok (Jokic), as long as we have Mal (Jamal Murray) and AG (Aaron Gordon) and that staff, we’re always in a really good spot,” Braun told The Post.

Jokic played like an MVP in the 65 games he could go last year, having one of his best seasons on offense before a knee injury cost him a month and he came back a bit hampered. Murray had his best regular season, rising to the All-Star game and earning an All-NBA nod. But the Nuggets were not their usual terrific selves last year and that could be traced to Gordon.

Gordon, who has reinvented himself as a player multiple times during his six years in Denver to fill the team’s needs, toggling between defensive gadget, unstoppable finisher, big-time shooter, playmaker and connector. When he played last year, the Nuggets outplayed their opponents by 13.8 points per 100 possessions. When he was off the floor, that number dipped to just +3.1. And he only played 36 games as he battled leg injuries the entire year that eventually held him out of much of the team’s Round 1 loss to the Wolves.

“I’m very confident in us every single year, no matter who we put on the court,” Braun said of the Nuggets to The Post. “With those guys, we’ve got a chance to win a championship, and that’s what we’re here for — to win championships. So we’re excited. We’ve got everything we need, as long as we have those guys.”

Braun later shared his excitement for his buddy Peyton Watson’s new deal and to play with DeMar DeRozan. But that’s the headline here for a reason. Sure, it’s not shocking that an athlete believes they can achieve. But this is a past NBA champion telling the world there might be a move or two coming but we’ve got enough no matter what. And he might be right.

It seems far off right now, and undoubtedly the Nuggets got worse this offseason, but as long as they have one of the best players in the world they have a shot. When Jokic plays and he is surrounded by Murray and Gordon, the Nuggets are still as good as any team in the league. Over the last two regular seasons Gordon has played in 87 games, the Nuggets have a 69% win rate just in his appearances — which would place them among the league’s top four teams in the regular season in each of the last two years.

Braun himself is a slight health question coming into this season. He’s tough and reliable but an early-season ankle injury in the fall of 2025 cost him nearly half the season and sapped him of athleticism when he did return. Now on his rookie extension entering his fifth season, Braun is looking to rebound his play back to or even above where it was in 2024-25 when he became one of the league’s best transition scorers while packing a strong and needed defensive punch.

Throw in Cameron Johnson and the hopes he can be more effective in a second year playing next to Jokic and the Nuggets have a formidable five. It’s the depth that’s the biggest question, followed by defensive issues that have plagued the group the entirety of the Jokic era outside of the two years Kentavious Caldwell-Pope spent in Denver. Yet, there is a world where it comes together, Braun isn’t wrong, it just doesn’t feel like we’re living in that universe.

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