Despite their college success, it is an annual tradition for some productivity seniors. Nique Clifford fits that description in 2025, as one of the best all-round bets in the draft. Clifford has improved almost every offensive aspect of his game in 2024-25, but how much of it can he translate to NBA levels?
- Team: Colorado
- Height: 6’5
- Weight: 202
- Wingspan: 6’8
- Age: 23.4 (February 9, 2002)
Nique Clifford – Colorado Wing (23.4 years old)
NBA Comparison: Mikal Bridges, Josh Richardson
Although he is a little smaller than the bridge, Clifford’s versatility and athletic tools can allow him to play a variety of different roles in his NBA career. His outstanding athleticism and improved skills can make him more on a professional team than some Scouts would expect. We can see his career along a similar path to Josh Richardson, finding a productive role player on the wing.
Advantages
- Incredibly light feet, liquid hips and long arms, let him defend several positions on the ball
- Subversive outside defender with explosive twitching and instinctive turnover
- Developed from arcs and inside the ball and inside the ball to an effective shooting shooter
- Explosive drivers, a few people can stop once they go downhill,
- Versatile manipulation pass with pickup processing potential
weakness
- Unwise balls can be imposed on the ball when he can’t create separation
- Ball controls that prevent pressure may shake
- Sometimes defending off the ball, allowing back-door and three-pointers
- He didn’t start leading college basketball until the 22/23 season
Offensive role: Secondary creator/floor space
Defensive roles: Versatile on-ball defender/outside subversive
2025 NBA Draft Projection: First Round, Choose 10-15
Despite Clifford’s age, we shouldn’t ignore his exquisite NBA skills. He has improved year by year and may continue to develop his offensive Arsenal, thus adding more dehydration creativity to his toolkit. If not, Clifford should effortlessly retreat back to the triangle, focusing on live creation and defense for victorious, competitive teams.
