The Oklahoma City Thunder and Sacramento Kings kicked off trade season on Sunday, making a deal to send second-year wing Nique Clifford to the injury-ravaged Thunder for two future second-round picks. How does Clifford help replenish the Thunder’s dipleated depth alongside reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?
With three months to go until the Feb. 11 NBA trade deadline, expect more deals to come as the season goes on. I’m grading every trade, and breaking down the ramifications for all teams and players involved.
To determine each grade, I’m looking at multiple factors, including the on-court impact and ages of involved players, the cost in terms of draft picks and future financial implications, and the context of the team’s short- and long-term outlooks. How risky or certain is the move? And how much does it help or hurt the team’s chance to win the championship, this season or beyond?
Let’s get into the latest moves:
Quick links:
Latest buzz | Trade machine
Depth charts
Sacramento Kings get: 2028 second-round pick (via Utah), 2030 second-round pick (via Minnesota)
Oklahoma City Thunder get: G Nique Clifford
Grade for Kings: C-
On the night of the 2025 draft, the Kings traded a future top-16-protected pick from the San Antonio Spurs to Oklahoma City for the No. 24 pick, which they used on Clifford. Less than 18 months later, they’re sending Clifford back to the Thunder.
That would be a strange use of resources on its own — two second-round picks is a less valuable package than a protected first — but the Kings’ choices look even stranger when considering what happened in the meantime: Clifford was perfectly capable as a rookie before being inexplicably buried on Sacramento’s bench to start his sophomore season.
Last season, Clifford averaged 8.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 25.1 minutes per game, and he posted the best on/off swing in Sacramento’s rotation. But this season, he’s down to 1.6 points in 6.3 minutes per contest.
To be fair, Clifford is already 24 years old and appears to have a limited NBA ceiling. If the Kings truly concluded he didn’t fit on their roster anymore, then at least they got some draft capital back for him.
But it’s unclear why they would have come to that conclusion, given his play in 1,932 NBA minutes so far.
Grade for Thunder: B
The Thunder entered the weekend with 21 future second-round picks, which is far more than they’d ever actually have room to use. So they cashed in two of them for an immediate upgrade on the wing, where injuries have stressed even the Thunder’s enviable depth.
Clifford might not end up playing any role for Oklahoma City come playoff time, but the team simply needs bodies in the meantime, and Clifford should be useful on both ends in a regular-season capacity. And who knows — place him in the Thunder’s excellent development system, and he might blow past any theoretical ceiling while offering cheap production for the next few years.
