Nique Clifford's path to the NBA Draft is becoming a rarity: The mid-major star who stayed

New York Times

5 hours ago

Nique Clifford calls himself a 'dying breed.' The history of basketball features plenty of success stories like his — players who stuck with a mid-major, were rewarded as high draft picks and turned into great pros — a list that includes the likes of Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Pascal Siakam. But will the sport's future have many more of those stories?
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If those current NBA stars went through college just a few years later, they would have had to deal with the temptation of a bigger payday to transfer to another school.
When Clifford, who broke out as a true senior at Colorado State after three years as a role player at Colorado, decided to return to college after mixed feedback during the NBA Draft process, he had options. High-major schools let his agents know that they were interested, and Clifford said multiple schools offered at least $1 million. Colorado State could not match or even come close to it, but Clifford never hesitated.
'It was not about the money,' he said. 'It was moreso a long-term investment. I knew, going back to CSU, I was going to be in a great situation. I was going to be around a great staff and great people that I love being around every day and continue to grow with them.
'I've been on the other side of things where you're not in a good situation, necessarily, so I didn't want to risk doing that for some extra change.'
Now Clifford, who is expected to be a first-round pick in this week's NBA Draft with a chance to sneak into the lottery, could be one of the last of his kind.
Sam Vecenie's latest mock draft for The Athletic projects 13 players who transferred up to higher-level Division I basketball programs during their college career. (Clifford is one of just three projected first-rounders to finish their college careers outside of the traditional high-major conferences: the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 or Big East.) That is the new pathway for most mid-major stars: Develop at a smaller school, emerge as a star, transfer up and get paid, show your talent on that stage and get drafted.
That last step doesn't always come to fruition. Transferring brings an element of uncertainty that Clifford did not want to risk. And his bet on himself already feels like an exception to the rule that money drives everything in the race to the top of the basketball world.
Clifford was far from the NBA's radar in March 2023, when he entered the transfer portal after three seasons at Colorado. He became a starter midway through his sophomore season, but the Derrick White/Spencer Dinwiddie-esque creator role coaches initially pitched to him never materialized.
'I wanted to finish out my career there and be loyal, but in terms of getting to where I wanted to be, it just wasn't going to happen there,' he said.
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Clifford was more of a 3-and-D wing, spending most offensive possessions in the corner. The problem was his 3-point percentage dipped to a career-worst 28.8 percent his junior season.
'There wasn't a lot of 3,' said Colorado State head coach Ali Farokhmanesh, who was promoted from an assistant role this spring. 'It was only D.'
Farokhmanesh had recruited Clifford out of high school and saw him then as more of a point guard: 'He made plays that other kids didn't see.' Farokhmanesh was Clifford's first call, two minutes after his name showed up in the NCAA transfer portal.
Clifford, who is originally from Colorado Springs, wanted to get out of the state to start over, but former CSU coach Niko Medved and Farokhmanesh's belief in his game and vision for what he could become was the perfect marriage.
When Clifford arrived in the summer of 2023, Farokhmanesh implemented a developmental plan that started with addressing his shot.
'There was some mechanical stuff that he had to work on,' Farokhmanesh said. 'His feet were not good. They weren't strong. The follow-through wasn't consistent, and the rotation of the ball wasn't consistent.'
Clifford was also apprehensive when he got open looks, opting instead to drive during summer pickup games.
'You could tell he was a little broken,' Medved said.
Clifford slowly started to play more like he had in high school. It helped that point guard Isaiah Stevens told him his teammates wanted him to take those open shots, make or miss.
The 2023-24 Rams got off to a 9-0 start, including wins over No. 8 Creighton and Clifford's former team, Colorado. Clifford scored double figures in seven of those games.
In Medved's motion offense, which involves all five players reading and reacting to the defense, Clifford played instinctively and quit overthinking.
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'He really did an unbelievable job of just kind of giving himself over to what we were asking him to do,' Medved said.
Clifford more than doubled his scoring average (12.2), doubled his assists (3.0), nearly doubled his rebounding (7.6) and shot career-best numbers inside the arc (59.7) and from deep (37.7). The Rams made the NCAA Tournament after a one-year absence, and Clifford started appearing on draft boards.
But when the feedback wasn't quite what he wanted, Clifford decided to return for a fifth season and see what it was like to be the face of a program.
Before every game, Farokhmanesh handed Clifford a notecard with a message: Mask on.
'You would invite him over to babysit your kids, and he'd put them to bed and then clean your house after too,' Farokhmanesh said. 'He's salt of the earth.' But Farokhmanesh wanted Clifford to be more of a killer on the court, creating an alter ego more aligned with the Joker tattoo on his left forearm.
In his first season with the Rams, Clifford mostly blended in: Despite his pro potential, he had only the fourth-highest usage rate on the team. Last season, the Rams needed Clifford to take the most shots, facilitate, rebound and be the team's best defender.
Clifford arrived early before practice every day to work with Farokhmanesh, stayed after practice for more work and returned at night to work out on his own. The personal results followed at the beginning of his final college season, but the Rams got off to a shaky 6-5 start. It would have been easy to point fingers, especially when Clifford started to hear from the doubters.
'Even family and friends were telling us we were trash,' Clifford said. 'I'm not going to say his name, but one of my uncles, he was just like, 'Man, y'all are not very good. I'm a not a big believer. I'm not a fan of the point guard. You're just having to do too much and too much on your plate. Y'all aren't going to be very good.''
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'There was no panic,' Medved said. 'Nique was unbelievable, because as a coach, you're like, 'All right, this kid's coming back. Obviously, he wants to go play in the NBA. Is he just going to worry about himself, right?' And he did the opposite. He was just so consumed with what our team needed to do on both ends of the floor, how he could help us and just the way he modeled that every day for our guys, he did everything and anything I ever asked him to do.'
The Rams ended the regular season on a seven-game winning streak, capped by a win in front of a sold-out crowd at Boise State with the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West tournament on the line. Clifford scored 36 points on only 18 shots.
'That might go down as the best regular-season performance ever at CSU,' Medved said.
Clifford was just as good in the conference tournament, averaging 25 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists to help the Rams secure an NCAA Tournament bid. Then, CSU upset sixth-seeded Memphis in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. A buzzer-beater by Maryland's Derik Queen stopped the Rams from being the only mid-major to make the Sweet 16. In Clifford's final college game, he put up another stellar line: 21 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal.
Clifford was one of the most valuable players in the country, finishing sixth in KenPom's Player of the Year standings. He enters this NBA Draft with no doubt that he can make an impact in the pros.
'I think the thing that gets lost in this, not just to make it at the next level, but to have an opportunity to stay at the next level,' Medved said. 'So much of it is mental and emotional. … Can you handle the drive? Do you really believe? You almost have to have an irrational confidence in yourself that you can succeed at the highest level. And that's really hard sometimes for people to be honest with themselves.
'I think that was a big part of it for Nique. It was so new to him. He'd come out on the scene, and he needed another year. And, man, this year you just saw what he did for us. Obviously, his play on the court, but also his leadership, just how much more confident and comfortable he was with his game and himself. And that's why he's in the position he's in.'
Will there be another Clifford?
Nine players from the Mountain West who earned all-Mountain West or honorable mention honors this spring will be back in college basketball next season. Only three (Utah State's Mason Falslev, San Diego State's Miles Byrd and Magoon Gwath) remained with their 2024-25 school. The other six transferred to high-major programs.
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From outside the high-major leagues, only two players attended the NBA Draft combine and returned to school: Byrd and UAB product Yaxel Lendeborg, who transferred to Michigan. It's rare now for an all-league player outside of college hoops' top five leagues to stay put. San Diego State, which made the national title game three years ago, is more high-major-ish, but even the Aztecs have felt the shift. Three members of the SDSU core that made the 2023 national title game finished their careers elsewhere.
'It's super rare (to stay). I felt it this spring,' said Farokhmanesh, who lost point guard Kyan Evans to North Carolina in April. 'It's also really rare to make the NBA, too.'
Clifford has no regrets, even about his three years at Colorado.
He also has a message for those players who will one day be in his shoes and have the chance to transfer up.
'If the feedback is they want you to go to a bigger school and play better competition, maybe I can see why you would transfer and go up to a big school,' Clifford said. 'But if you're already in a great situation and could risk your stock by going somewhere else just for some money, I would definitely not recommend that. I would definitely stay a part of the culture that you helped build and have a sense of loyalty to that college of the people that helped you get to where you were at. You know you're gonna grow and you're going to get better with those people, because they've helped you get to that point.'