Florida's first-round picks: Walter Clayton Jr. poised to be the next one
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — This past season, Walter Clayton Jr. became the first men’s basketball player in Florida Gators history to earn first-team All-American honors en route to leading UF to the 2025 national title. Tonight, he’s expected to become the 13th first-round pick in school history.
Clayton received a green room invitation last week.
Multiple mock draft projections have Clayton coming off the board in the opening round of the 2025 NBA Draft, which begins Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN. If Clayton hears his name called, he’ll be the UF sixth guard drafted in the first round and just the third point guard (see below).
After seven first-round picks from 2000-08, Florida has produced just two since then: Bradley Beal (2012) and Tre Mann (2021), who was the second point guard in school history to get selected in the opening round. The first was former Gator PG Jason Williams in the 1998 NBA Draft.
UF coach Todd Golden said if he was an NBA general manager, he would take Clayton as a top-10 pick and thinks teams will regret not drafting him early in the first round.
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“I’ve gotten great reports from different NBA teams that have worked out Walt,” Golden said of Clayton. “Obviously, I don’t know where he’ll end up going. Personally, I think he should be close to, like, 10, you know, 12, if I was a NBA GM, but I’m not. We’ll see. But whoever picks him is going to get an incredible value.”
Florida first-round picks in the NBA Draft
Center Neal Walk: 1969, Round 1, Pick No. 2 by Phoenix Suns
Center Dwayne Schintzius: 1990, Round 1, Pick No. 2 by San Antonio Spurs
Guard Jason Williams: 1998, Round 1, Pick No. 7 by Sacramento Kings
Forward Donnell Harvey: 2000, Round 1, Pick No. 22 by New York Knicks
Guard Mike Miller: 2000, Round 1, Pick No. 5 by Orlando Magic
Forward David Lee: 2005, Round 1, Pick No. 30 by New York Knicks
Forward/Center Joakim Noah: 2007, Round 1, Pick No. 9 by Chicago Bulls
Guard/Forward Corey Brewer: 2007, Round 1, Pick No. 7 by Minnesota Timberwolves
Forward/Center Al Horford: 2007, Round 1, Pick No. 3 by Atlanta Hawks
Center Marreese Speights: 2008, Round 1, Pick No. 16 by Philadelphia 76ers
Guard Bradley Beal: 2012, Round 1, Pick No. 3 by Washington Wizards
Guard Tre Mann: 2021, Round, Pick No. 18 by Oklahoma City Thunder
