The Kings held an introductory press conference Thursday at Golden 1 Center to welcome recent NBA draft picks Nique Clifford and Maxime Raynaud to Sacramento.
Clifford and Raynaud were flanked by Kings general manager Scott Perry and head coach Doug Christie as they took their places at the podium. They held up their jerseys, posed for pictures and answered questions about their respective journeys to the NBA.
“It’s a dream,” Clifford said. “It still doesn’t even feel real that I’m sitting here right now, but we’ve worked our whole lives for this moment.”
Sacramento selected Clifford, 23, out of Colorado State after acquiring the 24th overall pick in the draft in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Kings selected Raynaud, 22, out of Stanford with the 42nd overall pick.
Raynaud, who was born and raised in Paris, was asked about staying in Northern California after four years at Stanford.
“It’s going to make it easier to move my stuff, that’s for sure,” Raynaud said.
Clifford’s parents, Akai and Angelique, and Raynaud’s mother, Vanessa, attended Thursday’s press conference.
“To the families, welcome to our Sacramento Kings family,” Christie said. “I think you are absolutely going to love the city, and you’re young men are in good hands.”
Christie got to know Clifford and Raynaud earlier this week over dinner at The Waterboy, a Capitol Avenue restaurant.
“I found out they both like spaghetti, large amounts of spaghetti,” Christie said.
Clifford is a 6-foot-6 ½, 202-pound shooting guard/small forward who averaged 18.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.2 steals as a senior at Colorado State. He shot 49.6% from the field and 37.7% from 3-point range.
Clifford earned 2025 All-Mountain West Conference first-team and defensive team honors. He scored a career-high 36 points against Boise State in his final regular season game and went on to win the Mountain West tournament MVP award.
“Nique is a very talented and versatile basketball player,” Perry said. “That’s what attracted us to him. He can play multiple positions in this game on the perimeter, not only on the offensive end, but he gives you that defensive versatility, too, because we really believe he’s going to be able to match up just about anywhere on the perimeter from a defensive standpoint.”
Raynaud is a 7-1 ½, 237-pound center who came to the United States after committing to Stanford. As a senior, he averaged 20.2 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 0.9 steals while shooting 46.7% from the field and 34.7% from 3-point range on 5.5 attempts per game.
“Max possesses a very unique combination of size, skill and ability that really mirrors a lot of the big players in today’s game of basketball,” Perry said. “He was a double-double machine there at Stanford. We think he has a lot of growth and development in front of him and can be very helpful.”
Perry said Clifford and Raynaud will play for the Kings in the Las Vegas Summer League, which will be held July 10-20 at UNLV.
“As you’ve heard me say many times since I’ve come here, it’s important that we establish a real identity here and what it means to be a Sacramento Kings basketball player,” Perry said. “These two guys represent that. We want people that are competitive, tough, team oriented, professional, accountable and disciplined. These two young men have exhibited that not only in their play throughout their careers in college basketball, but also how they’ve conducted themselves as young men, and that is very important to us.”