The Sacramento rookie threw down a monster dunk that prompted online posts.
Members of the Sacramento Kings jumped out of their bench seats near the nine-minute mark of the fourth quarter.
All because Nique Clifford executed a poster dunk against the Charlotte Hornets.
Clifford "caught a body" as NBC Sports California play-by-play announcer Mark Jones called it. The rookie cut inside and viscously threw the basketball down with his left hand over Xavier Tillman.
The rookie sparked multiple reactions across the social media website X, formerly known as Twitter.
Another fan jokingly said how Clifford "just committed a crime" on the court. Although Matt George of Sactown 1140 AM jokingly said he missed the dunk on accident.
Lastly, even the Kings account reacted with an "OMG" reference.
The past Colorado State star, though, didn't gloat about his monster throw down. His team still fell 117-109 and dropped to 16-51 overall.
He instead humbly shared how he's beginning to catch himself gaining new confidence.
"I'm very confident in myself and my capabilities to help the team. I feel I bring a lot of versatility and other aspects," Clifford said during the postgame press conference.
He's his own worst critic, though, and believes there's lots to learn on his end.
"I'm still trying to find that consistency and what I can do on a night-to-night basis," he explained. "But I'm slowly figuring out the game."
Clifford doesn't just want to bottle himself to highlight reel plays like the fourth quarter dunk. He wants to become impactful even off the ball.
"I'm trying to impact the game in many different ways regardless if the shots aren't falling or missing some easy ones," he said. "I can still get steals, blocks, the little things that can help our team win."
His Kings entered the Golden 1 Center depleted with multiple injuries. Russell Westbrook sat out including Tuesday night breakthrough performer Devin Carter.
"It's no excuses. We have enough guys to win this game," Clifford told reporters. "We had a good effort in the first half and thought we put ourselves in a good position to win the game. But we gave them too many second chance points and easy looks. There's some switches we need to clean up."
Still, Clifford drew new rave reviews and became a trending topic in a good way for the Kings. He even finished the dunk with his opposite hand, which is rare for an NBA rookie.
Join our KINGS ROUNDTABLE community! It's free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.
Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected.