Nuggets wing Christian Braun has been diagnosed with a left ankle sprain and will miss at least six weeks, which is when he’ll be reexamined, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (via Twitter).
The Nuggets put out a press release confirming the news (Twitter link).
Braun sustained the injury late in the first quarter during Wednesday’s win at the Clippers. While attempting to pressure James Harden near mid-court, Braun appeared to have his right foot briefly stepped on and then took an awkward step backward with his left foot and immediately reacted in pain (Twitter video link via Law Murray of The Athletic).
Braun, who signed a five-year, $125MM rookie scale extension on the final day he was eligible to so (October 20), emerged as a full-time starter for Denver in 2024/25, posting career-best numbers in virtually every major statistic, including points (15.4), rebounds (5.2), assists (2.6), steals (1.1) and minutes per game (33.9) in 79 appearances. His shooting line of .580/.397/.827 was also excellent.
The 21st overall pick in the 2022 draft, Braun hadn’t been quite as productive through 10 healthy games this season, averaging 11.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.9 APG and 0.9 SPG on .484/.214/.778 shooting in 30.8 MPG. But he’s still an important part of the rotation, particularly on defense, where he’s frequently tasked with slowing down the opposing team’s best perimeter scorer.
The 24-year-old guard/forward had been quite durable to this point in his career, only missing nine total games over his first three seasons. He’ll more than double that total because of the left ankle sprain — the Nuggets play 19 times over the next six weeks, Murray notes.
Braun isn’t the only Nugget dealing with an injury, as starting forward Cameron Johnson will miss Saturday’s game in Minnesota with a right bicep strain, tweets Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette. Superstar center Nikola Jokic is questionable due to a left wrist sprain.
With Braun out, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Julian Strawther are candidates for more playing time. Peyton Watson seems likely to start in place of Johnson, though that’s just speculation.