The Denver Nuggets have updated their injury report for Thursday night's game against the Chicago Bulls, and key guard Christian Braun has officially been ruled out. Star point guard Jamal Murray remains a game time decision for Denver, so his status has yet to be officially confirmed.
With the departure of Bruce Brown in free agency, this is a big season for Christian Braun. Playing rotation minutes in the NBA Finals as a rookie, Braun showed a lot of promise last season as a solid role player. The Nuggets will need him to build off that and take a leap forward this season if they want to replicate what their depth was able to do last season.
While the top-end talent of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray will rival any duo in the league, Denver's dominance last season was heavily aided by their overall roster constriction, which was the best in the league. Getting regular contributions up and down the roster to go along with Jokic's dominance, the Nuggets were firing on all cylinders a year ago. In order to do that again, the Nuggets will need Braun to make up for some of the production they're losing with Brown's departure.
Looking to be healthy when the season begins, Braun and the Nuggets are taking a cautious approach during the preseason after a short summer.
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