Christian Braun is getting a crash course on what it takes to be a starter in the NBA.

It’s a good problem to have for the 23-year-old who started 10 games during his first two NBA seasons. He’s been a staple in Denver’s starting lineup 22 games into the start of his third NBA season and is doing so while playing more than 35 minutes a night.

“Now, I’ve got to deal with – which is a blessing and I’m very fortunate – playing as many minutes as I’ve played. I need to be better with my recovery. That’s a learning process. I need to learn a new routine, a new way to play 35 minutes a night and still get better as an individual, still win games, still play winning basketball and put all of it together,” Braun said after Wednesday’s practice at Ball Arena.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been a struggle, but I’m going to continue to learn.”

Braun has been playing through a quad contusion. After Wednesday’s practice, he was working with the team’s training staff. Outside of the experts, Braun said he’s also been asking questions to the team’s senior-most veterans, Russell Westbrook and DeAndre Jordan, and picking up cues from Nikola Jokic, who offsets his heavy workload with a bunch of time in the training room.

“I’m just trying to learn from their routines and be available every night, produce every night and do it while we’re winning,” Braun said. “It’s been a great process, and I’ve learned a lot already, but I’m going to continue to learn all year.”

In his first two seasons, Braun said he could get away with skipping a cold-tub session or not using Normatec Boots, which use compression therapy to increase recovery. He’s trying to change that while also being better about getting quality sleep and improving his diet, something he’s picked up from Westbrook, a pescatarian.

“I just try to pick his brain,” Braun said. “There’s some things that I can’t do right now, but there’s a lot of things I can work into my routine. There are things I’ve changed already this year. I’m going to continue to change and continue to develop.”

Availability hasn’t been an issue to this point. Braun has played in 180 of a possible 186 regular-season games with the Nuggets. The only games he didn’t participate in came during his rookie season. He also played 30 or more games in all three of his collegiate seasons at Kansas.

“I don’t want to jinx it,” Braun said. “I haven’t missed a game in a long time, even back to college. Sometimes you have bumps and bruises and maybe you don’t feel like it that day, but you’ve got to be ready to play when it’s time to play. That’s my biggest goal — just be out there every single night, be available every single night. That’s what I owe to this team. That’s what I owe to everybody who’s believed in me.”

Murray partially participates

After missing Denver’s back-to-back set Saturday in Washington and Sunday in Atlanta, Jamal Murray participated in parts of Wednesday’s practice, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.

“He was able to go through portions of practice today, which is great to have him out there,” Malone said. “He got some good work in yesterday in terms of treatment, player development. We’ll see how he feels from his work today. I would say for Friday night, he’s still going to be listed as questionable.”

Murray’s injury the last couple of games was listed as right hamstring inflammation. He was one of the last players shooting in the gym following Wednesday’s practice.

Strawther’s surge

There weren’t many positives from Saturday’s loss in Washington that ended the Wizards’ 16-game losing streak, but Julian Strawther’s performance was one of the few.

The second-year guard finished second in scoring to Jokic, who dropped a career-high 56, with 18 points, one shy of matching his season-high. Strawther did so efficiently, making 7 of 13 shots from the field, including 2 of 5 from 3-point range. He was even more efficient the next night in Atlanta, scoring 13 points on six attempts. Four of those attempts came from 3-point range, and Strawther hit three of them.

“It gives us a boost. It gives us a guy off the bench that you can play through and run plays for (with) his catch-and-shoot ability,” Malone said, naming Strawther as one of the team’s players who should be taking even more 3s.

“He’s taking four a game at a really healthy clip. Let’s get that number up to six, six-and-a-half 3s per game, and that’s somebody other teams have to game plan for.”

The weekend games marked the second time this season Strawther scored in double figures in consecutive games. The first stretch came in early November against the Jazz and Raptors. Heading into Friday’s game against the Clippers, Strawther is averaging nine points and doing so while shooting 46.3% from the field, 40.8% from 3 and 80.6% on free throws. All three marks and significant improvements from his rookie season.

“He’s not just a 3-point shooter as we all know,” Malone said. “He can put the ball on the floor, shoot that mid-range shot, get to the rim and finish and also generate free-throw attempts. Having a scorer off the bench helps us when we take our main guys out. It helps kind of steady the ship.”