One of the biggest disappointments from the 2025-26 Denver Nuggets season was the play of Christian Braun. He regressed quite a bit from his breakout season of 2024-25. Nuggets fans have been hearing about the strides he's been making during the first couple of weeks of training camp versus what he looked like last season. Unfortunately, whatever he's been doing on the practice court has yet to translate in the preseason, while the rest of the starters look great. Is he playing his way into a smaller role? It should be considered.
Sure, it's only three preseason games, but Braun's averaging just 4.3 points on a lowly 37.5% shooting, and he's an even more dismal 1-for-9 from beyond the arc, a whole 12.5%. That's hardly the result expected after Braun came out and touted his work on his three-point game in the offseason.
On top of the poor offense, he hasn't looked like himself defensively, either. He's definitely got his "explosiveness" back, but hasn't been able to harness it outside of a transition dunk in the opening game of the preseason against the Utah Jazz. He probably won't lose his starting spot, but the Nuggets should consider cutting his minutes if he keeps playing poorly.
Alpha Diallo and Julian Strawther have looked much better than Braun
Forget replacing Braun with sixth man DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan will see plenty of minutes at various positions. The real decision is whether to add more offense with Julian Strawther in Braun's place or go with more defense with preseason standout Alpha Diallo. Both players have been more effective than Braun through the first three games.
Strawther is averaging 14 points while shooting 46.9% from the floor and 43.8% from downtown, and he's truly taking a leap forward this preseason with the time he's been given, and he's currently the best offensive option off the bench.
Meanwhile, Diallo is doing things on defense that the Nuggets haven't seen in years. Diallo's picking up the primary ball-carrier on the inbound pass and making their trip up the court miserable, and he even produced an 8-second backcourt violation against the Jazz. Diallo's averaging 1.3 steals per game, not to mention getting his hands in the passing lanes, and he's been one of the most exciting players to watch. Diallo's also knocking down 50% of his threes, and he's done an excellent job of adapting to his role.
If Braun doesn't pick up the pace and play well in the first few games of the regular season, head coach David Adelman needs to consider putting Braun's place in the starting lineup under fire. Of course, fans are hoping for a bounce-back season from Braun, but until he starts showing signs of it in actual games, we'll start barking for someone else to eat into his minutes.
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