The OKC Thunder are gearing up for a Tuesday night bout against the Portland Trail Blazers, and many fans are seemingly fearing that newly acquired wing Nique Clifford may not be.
After officially touching down in the Sooner State following Sunday's surprise trade with the Sacramento Kings, a video of Clifford donning his new threads surfaced on the team's X account, where he said he was excited to play in front of the fanbase "in about a week or so."
Users quickly flocked to the comments section to express concern about the potential meaning behind this particular statement, with some wondering whether it means he's going to be held out of the rotation for some particular reason.
However, in this situation, context is key.
Looking at the schedule, the Thunder will be out on a four-game road trip from Tuesday night through Sunday. With this, the next game OKC will play at Paycom Center will fall on November 18 in a head-to-head against the visiting Atlanta Hawks.
This, along with the fact that he doesn't currently appear to be on the team's injury report, suggests that Clifford isn't hinting at a pushback in his debut outing with the Thunder but, rather, is specifically noting that his first time playing in front of the franchise's home crowd won't come for another week.
Fret not, OKC fans, for barring an unexpected DNP, the 24-year-old should see his first taste of action post-trade out in Portland on Tuesday.
Thunder have been longing for a player like Nique Clifford for months
Though the recent acquisition of Nique Clifford may have come as a bit of a surprise due to the timing, the truth is OKC has been searching for a player of his ilk for months now.
Dating back to the offseason, the Thunder have been directly linked to, and have even made several pushes to acquire young, athletic, 3&D wings.
Let's not forget that, back in July, the Thunder extended Spencer Jones a two-year, $12 million offer sheet in restricted free agency, only for it to be matched by the Denver Nuggets, which, in the end, prevented the acquisition altogether.
Not three months later, they would sign a player of a similar archetype in Ochai Agbaji, though he'd end up being waived just 24 hours after the announcement due to the unfortunate Chet Holmgren injury news.
Dalen Terry was the most recent player they snatched up that fit this coveted 3&D descriptor, though he wound up being waived just two games into his tenure to create the roster space needed to bring on Clifford.
Now, it's the sophomore's turn to try to fill this desired rotational need for the Thunder. Hopefully, his time will be longer and far more impactful than those who came before.
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