As the Denver Nuggets compete in a tough first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, a previous mistake has become painfully obvious. Nuggets forward Christian Braun is known as a three-and-D wing.
While he mostly filled that role, he's only averaging 9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game against the Timberwolves. That is down from his regular-season performance, which saw him miss nearly half the season and shoot a career low from three.
As a result, he continues to be underwhelming compared to his deal. Braun signed a 5-year, $125 million contract last summer. While he is a capable player, it's become painfully obvious that he isn't worth being paid $25 million a year. By signing him to that monster deal, the Nuggets repeated a previous mistake.
The Nuggets signed Christian Braun to a bad contract
The Nuggets made a mistake by signing Braun to a contract that is reminiscent of what they gave to Michael Porter Jr. Porter Jr. obviously had a great season after he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets.
That retroactively makes his contract look much better. However, when he signed that contract, it was a wild overpay by Denver.
He was given a rookie max deal despite having missed his entire rookie season and all but nine games in his fourth year. They bid against themselves and overpayed Porter Jr. by tens of millions. The Nuggets then did the same thing with Braun.
The Nuggets haven't learned from signing bad contracts
That later pushed the Nuggets up against the second apron and forced them to give up an unprotected 2031 first-round pick to offload Porter Jr. on the Nets.
The move allowed Denver to have much better depth this season, but what good is that if they wasted a valuable first to offload Porter Jr.? Had they not overpaid him, they wouldn't have been in that position.
Now, we're seeing history repeat itself with Braun. To keep Peyton Watson, they will likely have to move on from Braun or Cam Johnson. Moving Braun may not be as easy given his contract, and they aren't exactly flush with draft picks.
That has also prevented the Nuggets from moving Zeke Nnaji, who is making $8 million annually even though he is mostly out of their rotation.
Denver has secretly sabotaged the Nikola Jokic era with baffling moves, which they are later forced to trade assets to fix. It looks like they might have to do the same with Braun.
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