Nique Clifford is wasting no time reminding the Kings why they spent a first-round pick on him.
With Sacramento trying to sort through a roster full of young pieces, Clifford entered the picture as a player whose role could have easily been squeezed out. Instead, he came out of the gate against the Lakers with his strongest showing yet, the kind of night that answered a few questions in a hurry.
Clifford finished as the Kings’ leading scorer with 23 points, doing it on 61.5% shooting from the field, 50% from three and 60% at the line. He also added two assists and nine rebounds, including three on the offensive glass.
He went 8-for-13 overall, and that shot volume stood out just as much as the efficiency. Sacramento has wanted him to play with more aggression and show more willingness to let it fly, and that happened here.
That matters because Clifford’s path to this point has not been smooth. He was Sacramento’s only first-round pick in 2025, with Maxime Raynaud going deep in the second round and Dylan Cardwell later signing on a two-way deal after going undrafted.
Clifford arrived with expectations, and some around the team viewed him as a possible steal. But last season, when injuries opened up minutes across the roster, he didn’t separate himself the way Raynaud and Cardwell did.
The adjustment took longer.
This performance looked different. Once he got going, Clifford’s defense also popped, and he was the only Kings player to finish with a positive plus-minus. For a player whose confidence and role had both been in question, that’s the kind of line that changes the conversation fast.
It’s only one preseason game, but it was the version of Clifford the Kings have been waiting to see: active, assertive and willing to shoot. If that keeps building, Sacramento may have found more than a useful young wing.
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