Bruce Brown says the quiet part out loud about leaving the Nuggets

Denver Nuggets fans hoped that the 2022-23 season wouldn't be Bruce Brown's lone season in the Mile High City, and technically, it wasn't. Nobody wanted to see him leave after the Nuggets' championship season, and it turns out that Brown didn't really want to go, either.

At media day on Monday, he said that Indiana was a good spot for him to be, but it didn't take him long to miss Denver. He was only with the Pacers for a few months before they traded him to the Raptors as part of the Pascal Siakam deal. Brown was in Toronto for about a year before the Raptors traded him to New Orleans in the Brandon Ingram trade.

Brown told Marc J. Spears of Andscape in a piece that was published on Monday morning, "As soon as I got to Toronto, I thought about coming back to Denver right away. Fast forward to getting traded to New Orleans. Another tough spot. A lot of injuries there. And the whole time I was in New Orleans, I was thinking about the Nuggets."

He echoed that same sentiment, sitting alongside Tim Hardaway Jr. on Monday in front of the media, making it clear how happy he is to be back in Denver.

Bruce Brown couldn't be happier to be back with the Nuggets

Brown sat courtside at a Nuggets playoff game at Ball Arena this past season, which immediately caught the attention of fans and the front office. He told Spears that when Katy Winge asked him if he wanted to return, Brown said, "I'm going to be a free agent. So, if it happens, it happens." That was his way of showing Denver that yes, he wanted to be back.

At media day, he was asked where he was when he learned the Nuggets were interested in reuniting with him in free agency. Brown said he believes he was on the way to Denver to play golf, and that it didn't matter to him what other teams were interested; he knew he wanted to be with the Nuggets.

Not only is Brown excited to be back in Denver, where he can help the Nuggets win another title, but he's happy to be back in an area where it's acceptable to wear his cowboy hat, flannels, and boots again.

If you're wondering why Brown ever left Denver to begin with, it would've been absurd for him to turn down the two-year, $45 million offer he received from Indiana. He didn't want to leave the Nuggets then, but he knew he couldn't walk away from that kind of money. The past couple of years didn't go in his favor, but none of that matters now, because he's where he's meant to be.

Welcome back, Brucey B!