With the NBA Draft fast approaching, it's not long before the lives of many young men drastically change for good. Given how young these draft prospects are, the transition from being a student-athlete to becoming one of the highest-earning individuals on the planet isn't always the most seamless. Rookies simply learn some lessons the hard way, which is what happened to Denver Nuggets rookie guard Christian Braun.

Braun, in an appearance on the Rock Chalk Unplugged podcast, recounted one of his many “welcome to the NBA” moments. The Nuggets rookie told the story of how he was having the time of his life approaching his first season in the NBA. And then he came to work one day and saw a piece of paper on his chair.

He then became perplexed to see that the Nuggets were fining him $15,000 before he even received his first paycheck. What was the reason for this fine, one might ask. Well, Christian Braun made the wrong decision to park in Nuggets governor Stan Kroenke's reserved parking spots.

“The three spots I parked in was Mr. Kroenke's. I parked in his three spots. Not only did I park in his spot, I parked in all three of them. So it's $5,000 in each of those executive spots. So I get $15,000 on my chair,” Braun recalled.

Of course, that kind of money isn't exactly a huge amount for Christian Braun now, especially when he made around $2.8 million in his rookie year. But for him to receive that fine before he even received his first paycheck? He felt like there was no way he was ponying up $15,000, which prompted him to call Morgan Montgomery, the Nuggets' Basketball Operations Coordinator/Player Programs.

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“I was like, ‘Morgan, fifteen thousand? That's not gonna work. We're not gonna do this.' Obviously with some more colorful language, like not a chance, basically. Like, ‘no, you're not getting my money.' And she's like, ‘what do you mean, we're not getting your money? It comes straight out,” Braun added.

Chalk this one up to an expensive lesson learned for Christian Braun, who, if he continues his strong play for the Nuggets, won't be minding these sorts of fines ever again.