The Thunder Drafted Nique Clifford, Traded Him Away, and Just Bought Him Back for Two Second-Round Picks
Oklahoma City used the 24th pick of the 2025 draft on Nique Clifford, then sent his rights to Sacramento. On Sunday the Thunder got him back for two second-round picks, and they are still in line to collect the first-rounder they received for him in the first place.
Shams Charania reported it first. “The Sacramento Kings are trading Nique Clifford to the Oklahoma City Thunder for two second-round picks, sources tell ESPN,” he wrote. The Kings’ own release confirmed the terms: a 2028 second conveying via Utah and a 2030 second via Minnesota, both unprotected.
Sacramento Paid a First to Move Up for Him
In June 2025 the Kings sent Oklahoma City a top-16-protected 2027 San Antonio first-rounder to move up and take Clifford at No. 24. It was Scott Perry’s first move as Sacramento’s general manager. That pick is still live, and if the Spurs’ 2027 selection lands outside the top 16 it goes to the Thunder.
So Sam Presti drafted a player, sold the pick for a future first, and reacquired the same player 17 months later out of a stockpile that reportedly runs to 21 tradeable second-rounders. Sacramento comes out of it with two future seconds, which is two more than it had, and no player.
Why Now
Oklahoma City is 8-2 and first in the Western Conference on a four-game winning streak, and it got there after losing three rotation players in the same late-October game against the Clippers.
Jalen Williams broke his left fibula and dislocated his left ankle with 1:14 left in the fourth quarter and was carted off on a stretcher. He has had surgery and will be evaluated again before the end of the regular season, which is the language teams use when a return this season is not assumed.
Cason Wallace had surgery on a torn labrum in his left shoulder on Oct. 30 and carries the same open-ended timeline. Chet Holmgren was diagnosed with a small tear in his right patellar tendon, underwent biological treatment on Oct. 30, and is out eight to 10 weeks.
“Dub, as everybody knows, is as tough as they come,” Presti said of Williams after the injury. “We’re going to be with him the entire way.” He added a line that lands differently now: “We say within our walls all the time there’s a difference between being positive and being optimistic.”
To open a roster spot the Thunder waived Dalen Terry, who had just signed a non-guaranteed two-year deal. Oklahoma City absorbed Clifford into a traded player exception created this season, so it avoided a hard cap at the second apron.
What They Are Actually Getting
Clifford is 24, listed at 6-5, and played at Colorado before Colorado State, where he averaged 18.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists as a senior. As a rookie in Sacramento he played 75 games with 28 starts and averaged 8.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 25.1 minutes, shooting 41.8 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three, per Basketball Reference.
This season he had fallen out of Doug Christie’s rotation entirely: eight games, no starts, roughly 50 total minutes. He makes $3.26 million this season and $3.42 million next season, with a $5.98 million team option for 2028-29.
Sacramento is 1-8 and 14th in the West, tied for the worst nine-game start in franchise history. A 24-year-old wing who passes well was not the reason for that, and he will not be the reason Oklahoma City holds the top seed either. He is a rotation body on a cheap contract, acquired at no real cost by a first-place team that needed one. The Kings had their reasons for burying him. They will hear about every good game he has.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
