Apr 7, 2025; San Antonio, TX, USA; Florida Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. (1) celebrates after winning the national championship game of the Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome. Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Former Notre Dame Football Recruit Selected in NBA Draft's First Round

Originally posted on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI
By Nick Shepkowski | Last updated Jun 26, 2025 12:22 PM ET

Dreams came true in a big way for 30 different young men worldwide Wednesday as the first round of the 2025 NBA draft was held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Locally, Notre Dame didn't have any selections, a trend we'd love to see change in the not-so-distant future, but it did have a former football recruit have his name called.

Walter Clayton, Jr. heard his name called 18th overall Wednesday night by the Washington Wizards before being dealt west to the Utah Jazz.

hat looks good, Walt ‍↕️ pic.twitter.com/ScKTULd6eM
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) June 26, 2025

Before Clayton was a household name for the Florida Gators basketball team, he was a talented high school football player with scholarship offers from some of the nation's biggest programs. A member of the 2021 recruiting cycle, Clayton had football offers from Notre Dame, Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Nebraska, Tennessee, and others.

Clayton was a tremendous football player in high school with body control that certainly translated well to the hardwood.

He of course chose to go the basketball route, starting his college career at Iona where he spent two seasons before spending the last two at Florida, where he helped the Gators to a national championship this past spring.

It would have been nice to see him in blue and gold on Saturday afternoons but something tells me he made the right decision doing what he chose to do instead.

This article first appeared on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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