On June 27, Beijing time, NBA Nuggets President Booth participated in the 2024 draft and was interviewed by ESPN, a well-known American sports media, and talked about the upcoming free agent market: "
I understand that people are watching our attitude towards Pope, and a lot of teams have called to ask for the details of the deal. Pope is a very good defensive player, but he has a player option and has refused to exercise it for next season, which is the right of every player. We're not going to keep Pope, I would say we're definitely going to keep upgrading our roster in the offseason, we need to continue to find helpers for Jokic and Murray to sprint for a championship, and Braun looks really good, he's more than capable of moving up to the starting lineup to contribute! ”
The 31-year-old Pope plays for the Nuggets for the 2023-2024 season with an annual salary of $14.71 million this season, and he has a $15.44 million player option next season. He played in 76 games in the regular season this season, averaging 31.6 minutes per game, scoring 10.1 points + 2.4 rebounds + 2.4 assists + 1.3 steals + 0.6 blocks, shooting 45.0% from the field, 40.0% from three-point range, and 89.0% from the free throw line.
The 23-year-old Braun played in a total of 82 games in the 2023-2024 regular season, with an annual salary of only $2.95 million, and played an average of 20.2 minutes per game, scoring 7.3 points + 3.8 rebounds + 1.6 assists + 0.5 steals + 0.4 blocks, shooting 45.0% from the field, 38.0% from three-point range, and 69.0% from the free throw line.