Kansas basketball: Esteemed Jayhawk Christian Braun plays best game of young NBA career

Former Kansas basketball star Christian Braun had the most impressive outing of his young NBA career last night in Denver’s loss to the Pelicans.

Christian Braun has primarily served in a reserve role during his NBA career, playing a key part off the bench for the Denver Nuggets during the 2023-24 season. He was part of the reason the franchise captured their first-ever NBA Finals title this past June.

Although he has garnered respect for his hustle and defensive ability, Braun recently showcased the other aspect of his game that made him a first-round draft selection following his terrific junior year with the Kansas basketball team.

In the Nuggets’ 115-110 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Blue Valley Northwest graduate put on an offensive showing like no other. He scored a career-high 25 points and tied his best number in the rebounding department with 9.

He shot 11-of-19 (57.9%) from the field and connected on 3-of-5 attempts from 3-point range. It was just the second time in his career that he reached that mark from beyond the arc.

His previous career-high came against the Minnesota Timberwolves last season when he scored 19 points. He also had a monster game against the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the finals, shooting a near-perfect 7-of-8 on field goal attempts and scoring 15 points. That was most likely the best game of his NBA career prior to yesterday.

After his tremendous performance, Braun is up to an average of 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game across 12 contests. He is nearly doubling the averages he posted in his rookie year (4.7 points, 2.4 rebounds).

Braun still has plenty of time to surpass this point total — he’s played just 88 games at the next level — but it was a massive step in the right direction for the second-year guard.

The next time the Nuggets and former Jayhawk Christian Braun will be in action is tomorrow (Nov. 19) against the Cleveland Cavaliers.