The Denver Nuggets signed Christian Braun to a five-year, $125 million contract last offseason, opting to pay him over Peyton Watson. Well, here they are now, locked in a stalemate with Watson, reportedly offering him significantly less (a five-year, $70 million deal) than what Braun got, and they can't even fix it with a trade.
Denver entered the second tax apron when it matched Oklahoma City's offer sheet for Spencer Jones, thereby increasing their luxury tax bill by a whopping $32 million. That is all without paying Watson, which would add even more stress to the Nuggets' financial situation.
If they re-sign him, they would probably look to shed some salary elsewhere. They could do so by trading Braun, but, uh, his trade value isn't all that great after he regressed last season. His contract doesn't kick in until the start of this upcoming year, either. It would be a hard sale to convince a team to take on that deal, at least right now.
You can't definitively rule out a Braun trade from happening, as it could be in the cards, but let's be realistic.
Trading Braun would be challenging, if it's even possible
Just because Braun had a down year doesn't mean he can't return to the player he was in 2024-25 and build on that. His situation seems a lot worse than it is because of how things are going (more like how they're not)with Watson.
Denver shouldn't be eager to move on from Braun, not by any means, but given the team's existing financial constraints, the odds are that the Nuggets will clear space somewhere if they keep Watson. The Kroenkes aren't the type to be eager to spend a lot of money, though they certainly have it.
If the Nuggets could go back in time, they'd probably think a lot harder about giving Braun the contract that they did. It's a dark cloud hovering over their negotations with Watson, who, if they did have a time machine, they'd go back and find a way to pay him.
Denver can't reverse what's already been done, though, but can only try to make things better for the future. A Braun trade could be one way to help make that happen, especially if he ultimately doesn't grow into his contract, but for the time being, that doesn't seem likely at all unless they want to give up assets to make it happen.
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