Overland Park — The gym at Radiant Church was filled with familiar faces on Tuesday afternoon as part of former Kansas basketball player Christian Braun’s youth camp.
There was Braun, the star of the show, as well as Ed Fritz, the camp organizer and the coach who guided Braun to state championships at Blue Valley Northwest.
But the three-day event also drew a slew of the Huskies who helped aid those title runs — such as old teammates like Darien Jackson, Max Johnson and Joe Pleasant — and had found time to contribute to the camp, all these years later, in one way or another. Not to mention Braun’s older brother, and more recent former Jayhawk, Parker.
“It’s been a million people that have showed up,” Braun told the Journal-World. “My father came. It’s been a bunch of people that came and just supported and helped out.”
Fritz said that it served as proof that for the current Denver Nuggets standout and his peers, “success hasn’t gone to their head.”
“CB’s a very humble person, and he’s doing everything he can to give back,” said Fritz, who now coaches at North Kansas City High School. “So this is a great experience, we’ve got some kids from the Boys and Girls Club here today, and being able to help some kids in Kansas City is a really good thing to do.”
The Champ Camp in Overland Park, which runs from Monday through Wednesday, was so named for Braun’s various basketball successes: three straight state titles at Blue Valley Northwest, the 2022 NCAA title at KU and then last year’s NBA championship with the Nuggets. Since 2017, Braun has far more often than not spent his summer as a champion of some kind.
That makes this year, in which the Nuggets lost a seven-game series to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals, an outlier.
“I don’t like it,” Braun said. “I don’t like it, but I think that we’ll get back next year. I’m going to get better all summer, improve my game, improve my skills individually, and as a team next year, we’ll be ready. I know we’ll bounce back.”
As for KU, which Braun has monitored from afar as his NBA career has blossomed, three scholarship players remain on the roster who played with Braun: KJ Adams, Zach Clemence and Braun’s longtime friend Dajuan Harris Jr.
“He’s just adding to his resume this year,” Braun said of Harris. “Excited to watch him. I’m very proud of him, very proud of who he’s become.”
Braun added that Adams, once a sporadically used freshman on that 2021-22 team, has grown into “one of the toughest KU players (who) cares about Kansas more than anybody.”
“Just seeing their growth, seeing how much better they’ve got as players, and how good of people they’ve turned into,” Braun said. “Very cool for me, and like I said, I think they’re adding to their resume this year, and I think they got a really good chance to go win another one.”
Most immediate on the college and pro basketball calendars is Wednesday’s first round of the NBA Draft. Braun had watched his close friend and former teammate Tyon Grant-Foster — now at Grand Canyon — go through the draft process this offseason before returning to school. (Braun was wearing a stylized Grant-Foster T-shirt at Tuesday’s camp.)
Still in the draft are KU’s Johnny Furphy and Kevin McCullar Jr. Braun praised both of the players and said he didn’t have much advice to offer them, only that he hopes they get drafted into good situations.
“I hope they get opportunities,” he said. “I think opportunity is what matters in the NBA.”
Braun, a late first-round pick of the Nuggets’ two years ago, played 82 games during the 2023-24 season with four starts, averaging 7.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game.
Ed Fritz calls out to participants during the Champ Camp at Radiant Church in Overland Park on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
Christian Braun watches as participants play during the Champ Camp at Radiant Church in Overland Park on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
Parker Braun instructs participants at the Champ Camp at Radiant Church in Overland Park on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
Christian Braun shares a laugh with participants of the Champ Camp at Radiant Church in Overland Park on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
Christian Braun shares a laugh with campers during the Champ Camp at Radiant Church in Overland Park on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
Christian Braun instructs campers during the Champ Camp at Radiant Church in Overland Park on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World