Denver Nuggets announce signing of former Kansas Jayhawks guard Christian Braun

The NBA’s Denver Nuggets have signed former Kansas men’s basketball player Christian Braun to his first professional contract, general manager Calvin Booth announced Sunday on the Nuggets’ official Website..

Braun, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound native of Burlington, Kansas who was selected No 21 overall by Denver in the June 23 NBA Draft, signed a standard rookie scale contract, according to hoopsrumors.com. No financial details were revealed by the Nuggets.

A graduate of Blue Valley Northwest High School who played at KU three seasons, Braun was named to the 2022 all-Big 12 second team and NCAA Tournament all-Midwest Region team.

As the No. 21 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Braun according to the scale, is slated to earn $2,808,600 during the 2022-23 season, $2,949,120 in 2023-24, $3,089,640 in 2024-25 and $4,921,797 in 2025-26 for a total of $13,769,157.

He was one of three Nuggets to sign Sunday. Denver also announced the signing of second-round draft pick Peyton Watson of UCLA and undrafted Villanova guard Collin Gillespie.

On Saturday, it was announced that former KU guard Ochai Agbaji had signed his rookie scale contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. As the No. 14 pick in the draft, Agbaji is expected to earn $3,918,360 in 2022-23, $4,114,200 in 2023-24, $4,310,280 in 2024-25 and $6,383,525 in 2025-26. That’s approximately $18.700,000 over four years.

Braun averaged 14.1 points and 6.5 rebounds in 34.4 minutes per game last season for the national champion Jayhawks. He hit 49.5% of his shots, including 39% from three.

Braun played 40 minutes in KU’s NCAA title victory over North Carolina, He scored 12 points with 12 rebounds and three assists. He became Kansas’ 65th all-time 1,000-point scorer in KU’s Final Four semifinal victory over Villanova.

Braun was asked about what he brings to the Nuggets team at his introductory news conference last week in Denver.

“I think that they liked my winning mentality and my toughness. I’m a guy that wants to compete on both ends of the floor,” Braun said. “I know they take pride in those things here. We want to win a championship and I think I bring those qualities.”

Braun will play for the Nuggets in the upcoming Las Vegas Summer League to run July 7-17 in Vegas. Denver will open play against Minnesota at 8 p.m., Central time, Friday at Cox Pavilion on UNLV’s campus. It will be shown on NBA TV.