Christian Braun is perhaps best known for his back-to-back championship runs with the Kansas Jayhawks in 2022 when he was a Junior in college and the Denver Nuggets in 2023 as an NBA rookie. Not only did he get to experience both titles, but Braun was a key role player for both teams.
While the 6’6” wing wore #2 at the University of Kansas throughout his three seasons in Lawrence, when he was drafted to the Nuggets, there was no chance that he was going to be able to wear his college number in Denver. This is because Nuggets legend and Hall of Famer, Alex English, wore #2 for the entirety of his 11 seasons in the Mile High City.
This caused Braun to instead opt for #0 when he entered the NBA, which was his jersey number in high school. It obviously holds even more sentimental value now that Braun was the 7th best player on an NBA championship team wearing the #0, even taking over in game 3 of the 2023 NBA Finals. Against the Miami Heat, CB posted 15 points (7-8 FGs), 4 rebounds, and a notable steal that led to an emphatic dunk and savage Rock Chalk yell to the crowd.
The Russell Westbrook Number Conundrum
Up until very recently, it was never in doubt that Christian Braun would continue to wear #0 and hopefully be the only Nugget to wear it for a very long time. That is until the Russell Westbrook to Denver rumors became a reality. After the 2017 NBA MVP was set to join the Nuggets there was much talk about if the former Jayhawk would give up his #0 for Westbrook, who is without a doubt, a future Hall of Famer.
The Westbrook conundrum became even stranger when fans realized that not only was #0 taken on the Nuggets, but also #4 (Hunter Tyson). Westbrook has been wearing one or the other since 2002 when he wore #4 in high school, before transitioning to #0 in college. The latest reports from Nuggets reporters is that Westbrook inquired about Braun’s #0, but the Jayhawk legend refused to budge.
More uniform news: Hunter Tyson will wear #5 this season after giving #4 to Russell Westbrook. There was an inquiry by Westbrook into wearing #0, I’m told, but Christian Braun didn’t budge. Tyson gave Westbrook #4 free of charge. pic.twitter.com/7WK6L6C0GD
— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) August 26, 2024
Luckily, Hunter Tyson was understandably less attached to the #4 jersey and isn’t fully established in the league like CB yet, so he willingly gave up his number to Westbrook. Some fans were calling for Braun to give up his #0 to the NBA legend, but no one should blame him for wanting to keep his high school number and the number he just won a championship with.
The former Jayhawk now has his eyes set on the NBA season which is just over a month out. With Kentavious Caldwell-Pope leaving in the offseason, Braun looks poised to start at shooting guard. With that being said, Westbrook has not been fully ruled out of the starting lineup either. The Kansas-native rejecting Westbrook’s proposal for his #0 could make for an even more fun pre-season storyline as the two compete for backcourt minutes with the Nuggets.