{"id":891977,"date":"2026-09-14T18:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T18:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/891977\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T18:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T18:38:12","slug":"aaron-gordon-or-christian-braun-who-returns-to-form-for-nuggets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/891977\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Gordon or Christian Braun: Who returns to form for Nuggets?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Troy Renck: The Nuggets\u2019 brave face about the upcoming season is masked by ace bandages<\/a> and ice packs.<\/a> The starting five is really good. But for much of last season it became the equivalent of Foreigner, a popular band playing without any of its original members. The Nuggets survived in the regular season, showing resilience in January<\/a> and benefitting from tanking teams down the stretch. As training camp nears, with expectations centered around health, who has a better chance of rebounding this season: Aaron Gordon<\/a> or Christian Braun<\/a>?\n<\/p>\n

Sean Keeler: Braun was cold as ice in Games 3 and 6 of that wretched Timberwolves series<\/a>, and the Nuggets paid the price. But Gordon\u2019s hamstrings give me a fever of 103.<\/a> AG has a superstar pedigree and the kind of ceiling that only he has the hops to touch. I trust his heart. I don\u2019t trust his legs. Mr. Nugget turns 31 on Wednesday, and once you get on the other side of 30 (never mind 40 or 50, as any weekend warrior can attest), the soft-tissue bug gets harder and harder to shake. AG\u2019s got upside on his side. But Braun, at 25, has a better chance, historically, of finding his \u201924-25 form again than Gordon does of playing more than 55 games this season.<\/p>\n

Renck: Gordon means everything to the Nuggets, but it is fair to wonder if he can fill that role anymore. His life has changed dramatically since his brother\u2019s death, leading him to take on family responsibilities in an admirable way. But after his hamstring and calf issues sabotaged the past two playoff runs, the Nuggets require him at his best, even if that means 55 games counting the playoffs. Gordon indicated last year that he thought dealing with grief changed the physiology of his body. With the assistance of the team, Gordon should be able to map out a rest, recovery and participation plan. They can\u2019t keep guessing after he missed 77 regular-season contests and multiple playoff swing games over the past two years. He must communicate with them, them with him, and stick to the guidelines. Keeping Gordon fresh for the playoffs is a must to avoid another first-round exit.<\/p>\n

Keeler: Nikola Jokic may be (and ought to be) the NBA MVP, but AG is the Nuggets\u2019 MIP \u2014 Most Indispensable Player. Barring a rookie breakout, no one else on this roster, with Peyton Watson gone, can do all the things Gordon does, especially on defense. And that\u2019s never been more apparent than in the last two postseason runs, or lack thereof. When AG nets 17 points or more in a playoff game since \u201924-25, the Nuggets are 6-1. When he\u2019s at 16 points or fewer? They\u2019re 3-10. The Clippers series in the spring of \u201925 and the Minnesota series in \u201926 were only a year apart, yet Gordon looked five or six years older in the latter. That load management could become a load on everybody\u2019s collective psyche.<\/p>\n

Renck: Braun became a punching bag this offseason, an easy target to blame for his leadership take, ineffective 3-point shooting and $25 million salary that impacted the Peyton Watson negotiations. His underwhelming season was traced to a serious ankle injury that lingered. Braun will be good in transition and better defensively, but my concern is that his shooting issues are more mental than physical. The reality is that this feels like Gordon\u2019s last run for this group. The Nuggets had opportunities to trade Gordon and Braun, but never found a deal to their liking. Gordon deserves grace for what he has been through. But even if the conversations get uncomfortable, they need to figure out how to pull the best from the player. I believe Gordon will bounce back through better preventive measures and a reduced schedule.<\/p>\n

Keeler: And I just hope that ship hasn\u2019t sailed entirely. Because with Braun, it\u2019s also about context. The Nuggets don\u2019t just need AG to be present \u2014 they need him to be very good to great. Braun just has to be \u2026 well \u2026 just not last year\u2019s version. The offense doesn\u2019t need him to be a volume 3-point threat, just an efficient and selective one. If the ankle is even 90% of what it was two seasons ago, that should help with the explosion in the paint and his lift behind the arc. When CB connected on 33% or better of his 3-point attempts last season, and there were a lot of 1-for-3 nights in there,<\/a> the Nuggets went 18-2. If that counts as a \u201ccomeback,\u201d then count me in.<\/p>\n

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Troy Renck: The Nuggets\u2019 brave face about the upcoming season is masked by ace bandages and ice packs.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":891978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[3891,64,63,1663,3912,1662,3899,3914,5387,5665,3905,590,3906,3907,27165,3909,27167,115519,85,2136,8110,115520],"class_list":["post-891977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-aaron-gordon","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-christian-braun","tag-colorado","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-injury","tag-latest-headlines","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-more-nuggets-news","tag-nba","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-nuggets","tag-nuggets-takes","tag-peyton-watson","tag-sean-keeler","tag-sean-keeler-versus","tag-sports","tag-sports-columnists","tag-troy-renck","tag-troy-renck-versus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/891978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}