Nique Clifford, Maxime Raynaud facing ‘rite of passage’ amid Kings’ struggles originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — At least the rookies look good.
Doug Christie once again was unhappy with the Kings’ effort after a disheartening 131-90 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night at Intuit Dome. Still, Sacramento’s coach was proud of how guard Nique Clifford and center Maxime Raynaud continued to grow.
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Clifford finished with a team-best 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and three triples, while Raynaud poured in 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
“These players are good, man,” Christie said of the rookies. “They’re trying to do the right things. We’re here for them; we’re going to support them; we’re going to show them film; we’re going to develop; we keep working with them.”
It was the first time the Kings and Clippers met during the 2025-26 NBA season.
That also means that Tuesday night’s 41-point loss was the first time Clifford and Raynaud faced Los Angeles stars Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, who combined for 54 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, seemingly without breaking a sweat.
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Christie discussed his rookies’ growing pains against the Clippers duo, emphasizing that Clifford and Raynaud only will improve as they stack professional experiences.
“You have to go through the league first,” Christie said of Clifford and Raynaud. “You know, that was the first time they have seen Kawhi, that’s the first time they have seen James Harden. Nique got some fouls against [Harden] that he’s like, ‘What did I do?’ And I’m just like, ‘Listen, man, you got to put yourself in the right position … You can’t wait for him to hit you; you have to hit him first.’ There are little things that [Clifford] has to learn; the same with Max.
“We have to live with some of those mistakes from Max and Nique. But I will tell you that they’re not coming from a bad place. Those kids are just trying, they’re figuring it out, and that’s everything that we can ask for from them. And they continue to improve. The bumps and bruises they’re going to along the way [are] part of what you have to go through in this league to figure it out — and they will; I mean, I’m not worried about that.”
Clifford, whom Sacramento selected No. 24 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft, now is up to six games of double-digit scoring. And Raynaud, who was drafted by Sacramento at No. 42, continues to settle into the starting center spot in place of the injured Domantas Sabonis and is up to six double-doubles.
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The Kings aren’t where they want to be as a team, now with an 8-25 record entering the new year.
But Clifford and Raynaud are taking advantage of their respective opportunities, particularly the “bumps and bruises,” as Christie emphasized.
“It really is a rite of passage, man,” Christie said. “Like, you got to go through it. Because a lot of times, what you see in this league is, even with a team, they’ll have success for a year, and then they come back, and you’re like, ‘What happened?’ Because this league figures you out.
“If you don’t take advantage of this time, if you don’t go through and have all of those bumps and bruises, you know, that rookie year kind of drags on into next year. And before you know it, you kind of get labeled, and those are things that we don’t want for our players. Player development is big; they got to take this stuff seriously.”
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Christie added that he advises his youngsters to journal their experiences after every game so that they have a “vast amount of knowledge” to reflect on in future matchups.
It seems that Clifford and Raynaud, despite their team’s struggles, have nowhere to go but up.
“The biggest part of all of that is that they are good kids, and they want to be good,” Christie said. “So they stay in the gym, they listen, they do the right things …”
