Walter Clayton Jr. becomes the 13th first-round pick in UF history
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida star point guard Walter Clayton Jr. produced the most highly-decorated season in school history to lead the Gators to a 2025 national title. His record-setting play earned him a first-round selection in the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday.
Clayton was picked No. 18 overall by the Washington Wizards. Washington traded the pick to the Utah Jazz, per reports. Utah sent No. 21 and second-round picks to Washington for Clayton, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.
Clayton becomes the 13th player from UF to get drafted in the opening round and just the third point guard, joining Jason Williams (1998) and Tre Mann (2021), who was the last first-round pick for the Gators.
Clayton, the first player in program history to earn first-team All-American honors, finished his 2024-25 campaign with 713 points — UF’s single-season scoring record — after averaging 21.8 points in his nine postseason games spanning the SEC and NCAA Tournaments.
Clayton earned Final Four and West Regional Most Outstanding Player honors as well as SEC Tournament MVP. He scored a career-high 34 points against Auburn — becoming the first player with back-to-back 30-point games in the Elite Eight and Final Four since Larry Bird in 1979 — and 11 second-half points vs. Houston with the game-winning defensive stop.
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Clayton averaged a Florida-record 23.9 points in his seven NCAA Tournament games as a Gator after transferring from Iona. His 167 NCAA Tournament points rank third all-time in UF history with just seven games played. Every other Gator in the top 10 played at least 13 tournament games.
Clayton made multiple clutch shots during Florida’s title run, including late-game 3-pointers in the comeback wins over UConn, Texas Tech, Auburn and Houston. His 117 3-point field goals last season ranked second in UF history, and he finished his career with an active streak of 62 straight appearances with a 3-pointer, a school record.
“Whoever picks him is going to get an incredible value,” UF coach Todd Golden said of Clayton. “And then in two years, people are gonna be, ‘How did Walter Clayton drop to that. Why did he go there?’ I’m just telling you right now that’s what’s gonna happen. Because you look at guys like Fred VanVleet, Damian Lillard, like he’s in that bucket. I’m not saying he’s gonna get there right away.
“But the guy just had the most incredible senior season tournament run, whatever you want to say. He’s got real size, incredible athlete, elite shooter. I mean, what doesn’t he do? And he just wins all the games, and that matters to some teams. And a team will pick him, and he’ll end up killing it, and people will be like, ‘Why wasn’t higher?’ I’m just telling you right now that’s going to happen.”
