Walter Clayton Jr. selected No. 18 overall by Wizards | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

Walter Clayton Jr. selected No. 18 overall by Wizards | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

the 18th pick has been moved The Washington Wizards trading that pick to the Utah Jazz And the Utah Jazz going to get Walter Clayton Jr how about this national champ final four most outstanding player He was supremely clutch for the Gator leading them to a national championship Um how do you feel about where he went and a grade for this pick Adam Finkelstein a minus Uh GP I tried to tell people I tried to tell people Walter Clayton was going to get picked this high You told me and let’s be clear it’s not because of his heroics that led Florida to a national championship Clutch It is because he is an elite shooter of the basketball And when you were talking about perimeter role players in the NBA that is the single most important criteria Now the critics will say he doesn’t defend He doesn’t defend Well he’s got the body type to defend And the requisite defensively is going to be much higher in the NBA than it was at Florida If you’re Todd Golden you put this guy on the floor because of what he does offensively And you ask him to be good enough defensively In the NBA you say “Hey you better guard otherwise you’re not getting on the court He is going to be a good NBA player Ace Bailey Walter Clayton I think Utah’s doing a great job.” He’s a special shot maker Frink had this right He’s been on him longer than most even before the historically great run through the NCAA tournament I am concerned about the size He is little We’ve been talking about how big uh the every position on the court has gotten and he’s closer to 6’2 but he does have a football background So he’s got some stuff to him that can allow him to get in there and play a little bigger than he actually is I’m intrigued by it Um I don’t know if this is what I would have done in the top 20 with Walter Clayton Jr but I recognize the shotmaking ability and I won’t be surprised to see him making uh shots in this league for a long time Well something has to uh certainly uh value leadership and as as you said shot making ability Uh you you want to draft winners and look the the the Minnesota Timberwolves uh the excuse me the Utah Jazz they just got a winner in in Walter Clayton Jr Uh Matt what what are your thoughts here on this pick because uh we sat here we we we praised Walter Clayton Jr throughout the tournament leading to a national champion and again now going to the Utah Jazz Yeah let’s just get into the why of this pick and then get into the details of how this is going to work Um you know you you you reach out to sources you try and gather intel you hope most of it is close to accurate This is the one that has been bang on Walter Clayton Jr has has seen a jump in the past four five six days That’s even evidence all the more We told you before the draft started tonight that he would uh be moving into the top 20 and then Utah willing to trade to get him Uh really amazing story and I do think that Clayton being a top three player in college basketball last season and seeing some recent players that you know were three four-year players but were high-end first team second team all-American level players having success in the NBA also benefited Clayton Jaylen Brunson being one of the most foremost examples of that Uh you know what Utah has right now utah has Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr That also means that Utah drafted the two best tough shot makers in the entire draft They got guys who can fill it up and pro and proved it time and time and time again You dive into the synergy numbers the advanced analytics it bears out uh very cleanly and very alarmingly just how good these two players are uh when they are forced with taking NBA level kind of shots So uh Clayton had some real emotion on his face I love to see that He has more than earned this really an incredible journey He’s in Brooklyn tonight You know it wasn’t that long ago when just a quick story here when he was playing at Iona I actually did a I did a feature on Rick Patino before he got to St John’s job about what the future of Patino might be Will he stay at Iona will he get will he get a a high major offer we know how that part went Well when I was interviewing Rick Patino in his office at one point Walter Clayton uh Jr came in just to talk for a few minutes and he he had left the room and Patino talked to me He goes “Do you think he can play on a high major level?” And Rick Patino knows this but he just wanted he wanted my opinion real quick I said “Yeah I actually do think he can.” And Patino basically said “No he absolutely can and he’s going to be a star if he chooses to go to that next level.” Look what he did when he went to Florida Patino kind of knows what he’s talking about And not that far away from Iona’s campus here on Wednesday night he turns himself into a top 20 pick Another really really cool story in the 2025 NBA draft

Adam Finkelstein, Gary Parrish, and Avery Johnson join CBS Sports HQ to grade Walter Clayton Jr. being drafted by the Washington WIzards at No. 18 overall.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CBSSports

WATCH
CBS Sports HQ: https://www.cbssports.com/live/
Paramount Plus: https://www.paramountplus.com

FOLLOW US ON:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/CBSSports/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/cbssports/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/CBSSports

#nba #nbadraft #heat