NBA Commissioner Adam Silver welcomes Walter Clayton Jr. in Brooklyn after Wednesday's draft.
By: Denver Parler
The Utah Jazz selected Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. with the 18th pick in the NBA Draft. Commissioner Adam Silver welcomed him into the league at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday. Although the Washington Wizards initially held the 18th pick, they finalized a trade agreement with the Jazz just before the selection was announced.
Clayton, a native of Lake Wales, Florida, now stands as the 38th player in Florida history to be drafted and the 13th to be chosen in the first round. He is also the first Gator ever to be drafted by the Jazz organization.
Speaking with ESPN immediately after his selection, Clayton reflected on his time in Gainesville: “I feel like I grew immensely, simply by being around my teammates [at Florida]. I don't think people truly realize the great chemistry we shared, both on and off the court, and all the time we invested together.”
Ahead of the draft, Head Coach Todd Golden spoke glowingly about Clayton to NBA TV at Barclays Center: "It begins with his integrity—he is an simply fantastic young man. He’s incredibly responsive to coaching, has a desire to lead, and possesses an outstanding work ethic. Furthermore, I would argue he was arguably the best player in college basketball over the past year. He guided us to 36 victories and a national championship, stood out as the top performer in both the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, and carries a fantastic competitive drive."
Go be great, 1 #NBADraft pic.twitter.com/5QGooiOUQh
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) June 26, 2025
Walter Clayton Jr. averaged an impressive 18.3 points and spearheaded the Gators' successful run to the 2025 national championship. This season alone, he accumulated several major honors, including consensus first-team All-American, Final Four and NCAA West Regional Most Outstanding Player (MOP), SEC Tournament MVP, and first-team All-SEC. His total of 713 points scored established a new Florida single-season scoring record, and he became the first Gator in history to surpass the 100-point mark in a single NCAA Tournament run (finishing with 134).
His total of 1,346 points while playing for the Gators places him 24th on Florida's all-time scoring list, and it stands as the highest point total scored by any Gator over a two-season period. Clayton is responsible for two of the top six highest-scoring seasons in the history of the program, led by his record-setting 713 points in 2024-25. He successfully completed his education at UF, graduating in Spring 2025 with a degree in Educational Sciences.
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