Florida basketball's Walter Clayton Jr projected for first round in CBS Sports' mock draft

The 2025 NBA draft is a little under two months away and the anticipation is rising ahead of pro basketball's annual two-round selection event.

This year's draft will be held from June 25-26, with the first round taking place on the former date while the second round occurs on the latter.

This year's national champions, the Florida Gators, have at least one of their title-winning players expected to be taken among the first 30 selections.

The overall consensus is that prolific point guard Walter Clayton Jr., whose performance down the stretch was one of the greatest ever witnessed in program history, will get the call on the final Wednesday of June.

CBS Sports' Gary Parrish recently put together his updated 2025 NBA mock draft, projecting that Clayton will be taken with the 29th overall pick by the Phoenix Suns.

"Clayton was the star of Florida's national title run while averaging 22.3 points on 43.5% shooting from beyond the arc in those six NCAA Tournament games," Parrish notes.

"There are concerns about his decision-making and approach to defense, but the Most Outstanding Player of the 2025 Final Four is such a skilled and unique shotmaker that he's worthy of serious looks deep in the first round."Walter Clayton's stats and rankingsThe graduating senior out of Bartow, Florida, averaged 18.3 points, 4.2 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game during the 2024-25 campaign.

For his efforts, he earned First-Team All-SEC and All-American honors while being anointed Most Outstanding Player in the 2025 Final Four for his title-winning heroics.According to CBS Sports' scouting metrics, Clayton is ranked 41st among NBA draft prospects and 10th at his position.Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: nba-draft-walter-clayton-jr-first-round-mock.

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