Report: Clayton Jr. Invited to NBA Draft Green Room

Already garnering significant hype going into the 2025 NBA Draft, the league is confident that former Florida Gators' star guard Walter Clayton Jr. will be selected in the first round that it extended a green room invite to the All-American guard to attend the draft with his family, according to ESPN's Jonathan Givony.

Clayton Jr., who led Florida to its third national championship in program history, is one of 24 prospects to receive a green room invite so far, Givony reported.

After a stellar senior season in which he set a program record for points in a season (713), was the program's first First-Team All-American and earned postseason recognition by being named the SEC Tournament MVP, West Regional Most Outstanding Player and Final Four MOP, Clayton Jr. is considered to be a mid-to-late first-round pick in this year's draft.

Florida head coach Todd Golden on Tuesday gave his take on Clayton Jr.'s draft hype.

“I’ve gotten great reports from different NBA teams that have worked out Walt. Obviously, I don’t know where he’ll end up going. Personally, I think he should be close to 10, 12 if I were an NBA GM, but I’m not. We’ll see," he said. "But whoever picks him is going to get an incredible value, and then in two years, people are going to be like, ‘How did Walter Clayton drop to that? Why did he go there?’ I’m just telling you right now that’s what’s going to happen. Because you look at guys like Fred VanVleet and Damian Lillard, like he’s in that bucket.”

Should Clayton Jr. be drafted in the first round, he would be the first Gator selected that high and first UF player drafted overall since Tre Mann was selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 18th overall pick in the 2021 draft.

The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft will be held on June 25 in Brooklyn, New York at 8 p.m.

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