A surprising source of inspiration
Philadelphia 76ers v Denver Nuggets | C. Morgan Engel/GettyImages
Balancing outside noise and social media can be extremely challenging for a professional athlete, especially during their season. We’ve seen players have online meltdowns and others force themselves to disconnect – LeBron James would famously go “Zero Dark 30-23”, disappearing from social media during the playoffs.
Social media sites can be a hostile and dangerous environment. It gives people a platform to hide behind a screen and anonymously spew criticism, slander, and hate that they would never stand behind in real life.
Balancing outside noise and social media can be extremely challenging for a professional athlete, especially during their season. We’ve seen players have online meltdowns and others force themselves to disconnect – LeBron James would famously go “Zero Dark 30-23”, disappearing from social media during the playoffs.
Social media sites can be a hostile and dangerous environment. It gives people a platform to hide behind a screen and anonymously spew criticism, slander, and hate that they would never stand behind in real life.
On the other hand, some players lean into it and like to actively engage with fans on social media. Kevin Durant famously uses his Twitter account to dunk on trolls and he’s even been known to fire up a burner account or two, himself.
There’s no right or wrong way to navigate this new media world for young players. As long as it doesn’t become a distraction or something that can actually get players in trouble (see Ja Morant), then it’s all pretty harmless, at the end of the day.
Christian Braun motivated by negative social media comments
Christian Braun is one example of a player who does not try to ignore the noise on social media. After Tuesday night’s win, Braun was asked about how to tune out the noise and he basically went the other way with the question.
Balancing outside noise and social media can be extremely challenging for a professional athlete, especially during their season. We’ve seen players have online meltdowns and others force themselves to disconnect – LeBron James would famously go “Zero Dark 30-23”, disappearing from social media during the playoffs.
Social media sites can be a hostile and dangerous environment. It gives people a platform to hide behind a screen and anonymously spew criticism, slander, and hate that they would never stand behind in real life.
On the other hand, some players lean into it and like to actively engage with fans on social media. Kevin Durant famously uses his Twitter account to dunk on trolls and he’s even been known to fire up a burner account or two, himself.
There’s no right or wrong way to navigate this new media world for young players. As long as it doesn’t become a distraction or something that can actually get players in trouble (see Ja Morant), then it’s all pretty harmless, at the end of the day.
Christian Braun motivated by negative social media comments
Christian Braun is one example of a player who does not try to ignore the noise on social media. After Tuesday night’s win, Braun was asked about how to tune out the noise and he basically went the other way with the question.
He said he loves to see it and does not have Nuggets’ Twitter muted. In fact, he suggested that he has plenty of posts bookmarked and will return to them later. He even recounted a story about how he used negative social media comments to help fuel him to win a championship at Kansas after Bill Self said the team needed to get more athletic.
Braun explained that he sees all of the negative comments and that he thinks it’s good and it helps motivate him to work and compete harder and stay locked in. It makes sense for Braun, a 23-year-old, to be active on social media – he’s likely known nothing else his entire life.
He said that many people like to tune it out, but clearly, that’s not the case for him. At one point in his presser, he made a joke about how he likely has tweets from reporters in the room bookmarked and he made an exaggerated nod towards some media members.
Christian Braun has NOT muted Nuggets Twitter:
“I think it’s good for me (to see it).” pic.twitter.com/lumapaplwm
— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) January 22, 2025
Overall, it was a funny, light-hearted interview, but it was interesting to hear that Braun is active on social media and actually embraces the noise and uses it as motivation. So, Nuggets fans, if you’re posting on social media, think twice before you talk about Braun as it seems there’s a solid chance he’ll see it.