Former Kansas basketball star Christian Braun seeking third consecutive championship

Despite the plentiful talent that the Kansas basketball program has sent to the NBA, the Jayhawks have only had 10 former players win titles at the professional level. Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun joined that group last year when he and his team won their first NBA Finals in franchise history.

HC Mike Malone and three-time MVP Nikola Jokic were looking to become the first team to win consecutive championships since the star-studded Golden State Warriors. While Denver came out flat and lost its first two games of the Western Conference Semifinals to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Nuggets regrouped and tied the series at two apiece with two defining wins on the road. Could Braun be in for yet another championship?

Former Kansas Jayhawks star Christian Braun seeking third title in as many years

Denver flipped the series upside down over the past few days, and Braun was a key piece off the bench during that run. He played 18 minutes in Game 3, scoring five points and grabbing three rebounds. The former Jayhawk enjoyed more offensive success yesterday during Game 4, dropping 11 points, including this crucial 3-pointer down the stretch.

All Braun does is win, win, win, no matter what. He played a key role for the Jayhawks in 2022 and helped guide Bill Self to his second championshiop. Now, there is a very good chance the Nuggets repeat as champions. If that were to happen, he would join former Los Angeles Lakers guard Billy Thompson as the only two NBA players in league history to win an NCAA Championship in their final year of college and win consecutive NBA titles in their first two seasons in the league.

Heading back to Denver for Game 5, Denver has all the momentum in the series now. They must win two of the next three to meet the Dallas Mavericks or Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference finals, which will determine which team goes to the NBA Finals. Needless to say, Jayhawk fans without a team left in the playoffs are rooting for Braun and the Nuggets to win it all.