Florida’s March Madness hero Walter Clayton Jr. is headed to NBA after being a first-round pick in Wednesday night’s draft.
Clayton was picked 18th overall by the Utah Jazz, parlaying his super season into first-round status. Utah traded the No. 21 pick and two second-round picks with Washington just moments before the selection to move up to the 18th spot and pick Clayton, a Lake Wales native and point guard for Florida’s national championship team.
Recommended Videos
Clayton averaged 18.3 points per game in leading the Gators to the third national championship in program history. He had been slotted lower in a handful of mock drafts leading up to the selection.
“I feel like I gained a lot, just being around those guys, my teammates [at Florida],” Clayton said on ESPN following his selection. “I don’t think people understand just the chemistry we had on and off the court and time that we spent together.”
The Gators went 36-4 and edged Houston 65-63 on April 7 to win the national title in San Antonio. Clayton was a consensus first-team All-American selection. He was also the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA West Regional and the Final Four.
“It starts with his character — he’s just an amazing young man,” head coach Todd Golden told NBA TV at Barclays Center ahead of the draft. “Incredibly coachable, a guy that wants to be a leader and a great work ethic, and obviously over the last year I’d argue he was the best player in college basketball. He led us to 36 wins and a national championship, best player on the floor in the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament, a guy that just has a great competitive nature about him.”
Clayton is the 38th Florida player selected in the NBA draft, and the 13th first-round selection. In the last seven drafts, the Jazz have selected four players with both area and regional ties. Former Providence School star Grayson Allen (Duke) was the No. 21 pick in 2018. Potter’s House graduate Udoka Azubuike (Kansas) went 27th in 2019. And UNF’s Taylor Hendricks was the ninth pick by the Jazz in 2023.
Duke’s Cooper Flagg went No. 1 overall to Dallas.