Christian Braun’s Nuggets top Ochai Agbaji and the Cavaliers in Summer League showdown of former Jayhawks

By Matt Tait     Jul 11, 2022
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It was Christian Braun who came out on top in the highly anticipated matchup between the University of Kansas’ two most recent first-round draft picks on Sunday night.

The first professional showdown between the former KU teammates and longtime friends took place in Las Vegas, where Braun’s Denver Nuggets topped Ochai Agbaji’s Cleveland Cavaliers 84-76 in the second Summer League game of 2022 for both teams.

Both former Jayhawks started for their respective squads, with Agbaji logging 33 minutes and Braun playing 30.

Neither one of them played particularly well, with the two reigning national champions combining to shoot 7-for-29 from the floor (Agbaji was 3-for-11 and Braun 4-for-18), including a 2-of-14 clip from 3-point range.

Braun finished with 10 points, five assists and three steals but no rebounds.

Agbaji recorded eight points and six rebounds to go along with three assists and a steal.

Asked during a video interview for the KU basketball Twitter account if he earned bragging rights for the eight-point win, Braun downplayed that notion.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “If you watched me play today on offense, I don’t think I get any bragging rights. But I did get a win and Och might’ve played just as bad as me. It was two pretty bad games from us.”

Braun also said there was no trash talking between the two on the court.

“If you know Och, (you know) he’s not going to do that,” Braun said. “You can try, but he probably won’t say anything. I’m proud of him, he’s playing great. He’s in a really good spot and you can tell he’s happy.”

Braun is right there with him.

“It’s just been a really great experience to take my first steps in the league,” he said. “It’s just the first couple steps. (Agbaji) played great the other day and I played great the other day, so we’re going to keep taking steps.”

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.