Walter Clayton

Walter Clayton Jr. was born in Sebring, Florida, and attended Lake Wales High School before transferring to Bartow High School ahead of his junior year. While he also played football, Clayton Jr. led Bartow to the Florida Class 6A state championship in basketball in his first season. As a four-star recruit, he then committed to play college basketball at Iona, where he was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Player of the Year as a sophomore. For the 2023-24 season, Clayton Jr. transferred to Florida and earned Second-Team All-SEC honors as he led the Gators to the SEC Tournament Championship game. Although Clayton Jr. declared for the 2024 NBA Draft, he decided to return to Florida for the 2024-25 campaign. As a senior, he averaged 18.3 points, 4.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 32.6 minutes across 39 regular-season appearances while scoring a program-record 713 points. Clayton Jr. then led Florida to an NCAA Championship, being named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player for 2025, a Consensus First-Team All-American, and First-Team All-SEC. Clayton Jr.'s standout attributes are his outside shooting, as he converted 38.6 percent of his 7.8 three-point attempts per contest as a senior, and his shot creation. However, he also possesses the ball-handling abilities to get to the rim and has enough athleticism to convert once inside. Clayton Jr. is also more than capable of playmaking for his teammates out of the pick-and-roll or in transition. At 6-foot-3, Clayton Jr.'s skillset and frame profile as a combo guard at the next level. His game has shades of Coby White and Jordan Clarkson as a microwave scorer who can do damage from behind the arc while also being a quality passer. In the NBA, Clayton Jr. could operate as either a secondary playmaker next to another point guard or as a primary ball-handler off the bench.