Still wrapping his head around his new NBA reality, Nique Clifford was thrown into the deep end of the pool. It didn't take long for the Oklahoma City Thunder to throw him into live action. The short-handed squad badly needs NBA-capable bodies right now.
Clifford played second-quarter minutes and beyond in OKC's 123-103 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. He finished with four points on 2-of-4 shooting, four rebounds and one assist in 19 minutes off the bench.
Adding to a recent trend, the Thunder acquired another buy-low candidate in their trade with the Sacramento Kings. Clifford was on the outside of their rotation to start his second year. Instead of dwelling on an awkward situation, they decided to cut bait and salvage his value with two
future second-round picks.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault liked what he saw from Clifford. At least, in terms of feeling things out. He's kinda learning on the job as OKC embarks on its season-long four-game road trip. In garbage time, he swished in a baseline jumper and had a fancy reverse driving layup to score his first buckets for his new NBA team.
"Fine. He doesn't know anything. He just got here yesterday. It's a hard position to put him in. Doesn't know the playbook," Daigneault said. "He's learning everybody's name. He's called me coach because I think he doesn't know my name is Mark yet."
It's been quite the adventure for OKC's final standard roster spot. Even going back to the summer. They tried to steal Spencer Jones away from the Denver Nuggets. But that didn't work. And then they entered the 2026-27 regular season with it vacant. That luxury was lost when Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Cason Wallace all sustained season-altering injuries on the same Oct. 25 night.
Since then, the Thunder have had their head on a swivel. First, they signed Ochai Agbaji. They then backed out of it a day later. After that, they signed Dalen Terry. His stay in OKC was short. He was waived to make room for Clifford — who's the hopeful permanent solution to the final roster spot.
The Thunder hope Clifford can help navigate their new NBA reality. They're still in the early stages of the Post-D.C.C. (Dub, Chet, Caso) era. Because of that, they're conjuring up a rotation still. The 24-year-old represents hopeful forward depth. He's a defense-oriented role player whose outside jumper is shaky.
"He'll get there. I thought he played good minutes. He was functional out there. We were positive in his minutes, I think, in the first half," Daigneault said. "That's our philosophy. If there's an opportunity, get him out there. Let him get started. I thought it was good for him to even get the minutes down the stretch tonight."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Mark Daigneault reviews Nique Clifford's OKC debut in loss to Trail Blazers
