Walter Clayton Jr. gets green room invite for NBA Draft
Florida Gators point guard Walter Clayton Jr. has received a green room invitation for next week’s NBA Draft with his family, per ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony. The draft is June 25-26 in Brooklyn, N.Y. at Barclays Center. It will be broadcast on ABC and ESPN.
Clayton, an All-American who led UF to the 2025 national title, has consistently been projected by various outlets as a first-round draft pick.
“I’ve gotten great reports from different NBA teams that have worked out Walt,” Gators coach Todd Golden said this week. “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. 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.”
layton was the star player on Florida’s 36-4 national championship team. He averaged 18.3 points, 4.2 assists and 3.7 assists a game, hit one big shot after the other during the NCAA Tournament and was a consensus first-team All-American in his final season for the Gators. Most current NBA mock drafts have him going in the first round.
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Clayton was the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament.
ESPN has Walter Clayton going in the first round
Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN have the Phoenix Suns selecting Clayton with the No. 29 pick in the first round in their latest draft projection. Wrote Woo:
The Suns appear interested in getting younger and remaking their roster, with the prospect of a Durant trade also creating scenarios in which Phoenix could pick up additional draft picks earlier in the first round. A player like Clayton, who might be value-additive on a rookie-scale deal immediately, should be attractive to the Suns as they navigate a difficult salary sheet and try to better position themselves long term.
Clayton seems to have played himself into the first round with his NCAA tournament heroics, viewed as a sparkplug scorer who can help enhance a team’s bench unit. His confidence and shot-making skills will have to cover for his limited size and questionable defense.
Added Golden: “He’s got real size, [is an] 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.”
