{"id":174601,"date":"2025-07-16T13:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T13:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/174601\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T13:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T13:13:10","slug":"2025-nba-summer-league-1-question-for-kings-rookies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/174601\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NBA Summer League: 1 Question For Kings Rookies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like the Phoenix Suns<\/a>, the Sacramento Kings were able to get excellent value out of the 2025 NBA Draft. In the first round, the Kings traded to get Colorado State wing<\/a> Nique Clifford<\/a>. Additionally, Sacramento selected Stanford big<\/a> Maxime Raynaud<\/a> in the second round. Both players showed strong production in college as upperclassmen and have diverse skill sets that can benefit the Kings. Nevertheless, each player has a major question in their game that they can potentially answer at Summer League. Let\u2019s dive into one question for each Kings rookie playing at Summer League.<\/p>\n

2025 NBA Summer League: 1 Question For Each Kings Rookie
\nNique Clifford
\nQuestion: Can Clifford\u2019s jumper translate to the next level?<\/p>\n

The Kings got a major steal in trading for Clifford<\/a> in the first round. In Clifford, they get a Swiss-army knife wing who can fill any role required of him. Specifically, he showed strong production across the board during his time in college, whether it be points, rebounds, or assists. Furthermore, Clifford is a good defender on the wings and has great athleticism. He has all the tools and skills to be an impactful player at the NBA level. Plus, Clifford has all the things necessary for him to be an immediate rotation player for the Kings.<\/p>\n

Clifford has plenty of tools at his disposal to succeed, but he does have a major question mark that needs addressing as he transitions to the league. Specifically, the question for Clifford is whether or not his jumper can translate to the next level. While he improved his jumper from year to year in college, Clifford has always been prone to long cold streaks. However, his jumper has held up in Summer League so far, putting up multiple efficient three-point shooting nights. It is critical for Clifford that his jumper translates over to the NBA. It is encouraging to see his jumper falling, but he still needs to continue to be a solid floor-spacer, even if he doesn\u2019t shoot ridiculously hot every night.<\/p>\n

Maxime Raynaud
\nQuestion: Can Raynaud compete defensively against other NBA-level talent?<\/p>\n

Sacramento took another upperclassman in the draft, selecting Raynaud<\/a> in the second round. Unquestionably, Raynaud is one of the better bigs in this year\u2019s draft. In particular, Raynaud\u2019s gifts lie in his offensive talent as he possesses excellent touch around the rim and can stretch his range beyond the arc. Furthermore, Raynaud is an excellent rebounder on both ends of the floor. Like Clifford, Raynaud\u2019s skills and experience from college allow Raynaud the ability to be an immediate role player for the Kings as the backup to Domantas Sabonis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Raynaud is truly skilled on the offensive end of the floor, possessing a unique skill set for a big. However, Raynaud has always had questions surrounding his defense. For Raynaud, the major question is whether or not he can compete defensively against other NBA-level talents in Summer League. As a prospect, Raynaud\u2019s big downside as a prospect was his defensive issues as he lacks the athleticism and quickness to be an effective defender at the big position. Raynaud has been solid enough in Summer League so far, which is a good sign. Nevertheless, Raynaud must continue to show he won\u2019t be a liability on the defensive end as it is difficult to keep bigs with defensive deficiencies on the floor.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like the Phoenix Suns, the Sacramento Kings were able to get excellent value out of the 2025 NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3792],"tags":[28158,7,4056,3538,6,854,986,477,4055],"class_list":{"0":"post-174601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento-kings","8":"tag-2025-nba-summer-league","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-kings","11":"tag-maxime-raynaud","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nique-clifford","14":"tag-sacramento","15":"tag-sacramento-kings","16":"tag-sacramentokings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114863093490921442","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}