The Denver Nuggets received bad injury news on starter Christian Braun, with Shams Charania of ESPN reporting that he will be “re-evaluated in six weeks” for a left ankle sprain. Keep in mind that is six weeks to re-evaluation, not six weeks to returning to the court.
The Nuggets have had a beautiful start to the season, going 9-2 and sitting in second place in the Western Conference. This is going to test that start, however, as it removes their best guard defender and a huge part of their cutting and transition offense. The Nuggets gave Christian Braun a nine-figure extension specifically because he fills a huge need for them. Denver added much-needed depth this summer and they are absolutely going to need it. The Nuggets have Tim Hardaway Jr. available as a sniper, and Bruce Brown who can fill in for defense and transition play if Denver decides to split the role with the starters, but that takes the remaining bench from a strength to more of a question mark.
That’s especially true because fellow starter Cam Johnson left the game against the Los Angeles Clippers with what was described as an “arm strain” and is listed as out against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a bicep strain – but when a player looks like he can’t lift his arm at all when he leaves the court that doesn’t feel like a quick recovery time either. If Denver is without both players for any significant amount of time, bench players like Julian Strawther and Spencer Jones are going to become much more important to maintaining the bench output, and even two-way players like Curtis Jones may get a call for some minutes.
Get well soon Christian – hope to see you on the court again at full strength around the new year.
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Update on Cam Johnson: per Vinny Benedetto of the Gazette, it looks like the Nuggets might have had more luck with Cam Johnson than Christian Braun, as Vinny indicates Cam is only day-to-day with the arm strain and says it’s “not too serious.”
Here’s hoping they don’t rush Cam back too soon either – both men need to heal up and Denver’s depth is there for a reason. But it’s great to be counting Cam’s return in “a few games” – that would a nice stroke of good luck that Denver could really use.
