The Denver Nuggets enter the 2026 offseason facing an unenviable, high-stakes financial puzzle. After watching the rival Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs aggressively establish themselves as the new gatekeepers of the Western Conference, General Manager Calvin Booth must find a way to retool an expensive roster that has suddenly developed glaring depth issues.
The core of Denver’s crisis resides in the strict, punitive mechanics of the NBA's Second Apron. With MVP Nikola Jokić set to sign a historic extension and young forward Peyton Watson entering a highly lucrative restricted free agency, Denver is roughly $8 million over the second apron threshold. If they hope to bring Watson back long-term and retain any semblance of functional roster flexibility, a salary-shedding consolidation is a strict necessity.
According to a comprehensive blueprint provided by veteran NBA insider Marc Stein, veteran forward Aaron Gordon is drawing immense trade interest from front offices across the league. However, the Nuggets are vehemently resistant to parting ways with the championship-proven forward. Instead, Booth is intensely surveying the market to move 25-year-old wing Christian Braun—a player who has suddenly become highly expendable following Denver's prior acquisition of Cameron Johnson.
The Expendable Local: Why Cam Johnson Makes Braun Movable
On paper, trading Christian Braun sounds like an incredibly tough pill to swallow for a fan base that watched him evolve from a rookie championship spark plug into a primary rotation cog. However, Braun is coming off an incredibly frustrating fourth year in the league that cast a major shadow over his long-term roster fit:
Injury Regressions: A severe ankle sprain limited Braun to just 44 regular-season games.
The Analytical Dip: His scoring dipped to 12.0 points per game, while his perimeter accuracy cratered from a brilliant 39.7% down to an alarming 30.1% from beyond the arc.
The real-world catalyst behind Braun's sudden availability is the presence of Cameron Johnson. Acquired in the blockbuster trade that sent Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn, Johnson provides everything Braun does—but at a significantly higher statistical tier.
Standing at 6-foot-8, Johnson offers a larger physical frame and superior positional length, making him a much more versatile switching option on defense. Offensively, Johnson remains an absolute elite floor spacer, knocking down a blistering 43.0% of his threes this past season in Denver.
The Reality Check: Does a Braun Trade Market Actually Exist?
While the Nuggets are highly motivated to push Braun into trade packages, the primary obstacle standing in Booth’s way is the macro-market valuation of Braun's new contract. Finding an aggressive trade partner willing to absorb a contract that kicks in at $21.5 million for the 2026-27 season—and escalates to $28.4 million by 2031—for a wing coming off a severe shooting regression is an incredibly steep mountain to climb.
Furthermore, any return package for Braun must actively net the Nuggets immediate, needle-moving upgrades capable of containing Victor Wembanyama or out-pacing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. If rival front offices view Braun as a negative-value contract due to his injury history, Denver would be forced to attach premium draft capital just to get off the money, defeating the entire purpose of an asset-maximizing retool.
The Nuclear Options: Murray and Gordon
If the trade market for Braun remains paralyzed, Denver will eventually be forced to look at their core alphas.
According to Stein, the Nuggets are strictly refusing to entertain trading star guard Jamal Murray, who is fresh off the strongest regular season of his career and his first official All-Star selection.
But if Murray is completely off the table, and Braun’s contract proves entirely unmovable, Calvin Booth will have to face an incredibly painful, organizational reality check. Aaron Gordon’s combination of hard-nosed, multi-positional wing defense, historic cutting intuition next to Jokić, and solid outside shooting makes him the ultimate prize for any modern contender.
Gordon has developed a nearly telepathic two-man synergy with Jokić over the last half-decade. Trading him away would represent a massive emotional and structural gut-punch to the locker room. But if a desperate franchise slides an elite, depth-oriented offer sheet across the desk that completely wipes out Denver’s second-apron crisis while replenishing their bench, the Nuggets will have no choice but to pick up the phone. Basketball is an unforgiving business, and the clock is officially ticking in the Mile High City.
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