If Nique Clifford was worried about winning over his second NBA fanbase, I don't think he needs to anymore. The Oklahoma City Thunder acquired the 24-year-old in a buy-low move with the Sacramento Kings on Sunday. In exchange, they sent two future second-round picks.
Clifford had fallen out of favor with the Kings. He was outside of their rotation after a productive rookie campaign last year. Instead of falling for a sunk-cost fallacy, Sacramento sent him to OKC and salvaged his value with a couple of low-tier draft picks.
Now, Clifford joins the duct-taped Thunder. They're hoping to salvage their 2026-27 season after Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace sustained season-altering injuries on Oct. 25. After taking a minute to gather
themselves, they're back to being a win machine — headlined by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell.
Clifford represents both short-term help right now and an intriguing long-term project. He should get minutes from the jump as a bench forward who can defend. Albeit, the outside shot is a work in progress. He's a career 32% shooter from 3 on limited volume. But considering he's in the second year of a standard rookie-scale four-year contract, OKC will have time to help him reach his basketball peak.
With Clifford around OKC for presumably a minute, Thunder fans will get to fall in love with his game and personality. He's already earned some brownie points in an exclusive interview with OKC reporter Nick Gallo. He revealed why he's wearing No. 18 on the Thunder after being No. 5 and No. 10 on the Kings.
"Former OKC legend and my former teammate last year. He was also one of my inspirations playing basketball," Clifford said. "My family, I chose 18 because all of my family thought that was the best number. So I went with that. One plus eight is nine, which is my birthday. And then last year, Russ was my vet and my teammate. He wore No. 18. I wanted to honor him by wearing that number."
Nique Clifford talks with Nick Gallo about Russell Westbrook being one of his hoops inspirations and reasons for choosing #18. pic.twitter.com/AXbrvPJ36t
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) November 9, 2026
Of course, Clifford is referring to Russell Westbrook's final NBA season. He spent it on the Kings last year. It looks like those two had a mentor-rookie dynamic going on amid all the losing. Westbrook retired from the NBA this past summer after 18 legendary seasons. He will soon join the Hall of Fame and get his No. 0 jersey retired by OKC on Sunday, Feb. 7.
Westbrook was one of the top era-defining NBA superstars of the 2010s. He spent his first 11 seasons with the Thunder. In that time, he was a one-time MVP winner, broke the triple-double record and was a perennial All-Star and All-NBA member. OKC also enjoyed several deep playoff runs in that time. Alongside Kevin Durant, he co-starred in their first title contender.
Now, Westbrook's pantheon can add that he helped Clifford learn the NBA. The Thunder hope the lessons he gathered can help him develop as he gets ready to join his second NBA team. He was the No. 24 pick of the 2025 NBA draft — so he's still relatively early in his hopeful hooping journey.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: How Nique Clifford will 'honor' Russell Westbrook as he joins OKC Thunder
