Will Clayton be drafted in round 1?

Maybe late and somebody gets a steal.

 

Reasonably confident he goes somewhere in the mid to late first. Never know, but he elevated himself in the tourney and hasn’t hurt himself in workouts. Thunder (3 picks), Orlando (2), Miami are all rumored possibilities.

 

yes good chance he'll be drafted in the low 20s

 

Hope the Heat take him.

 

Orlando Magic, Rd 1.

 

If he were still available somewhere in the 1st round, and it was my turn to select, I'd scrub whoever I had on my list and call Walt's name.

 

The latest mock draft from the Ringer has him going 26th.

 

Orlando has 2 first round picks and Walter fills a position of need, with 3 big contracts for them about to kick therefore rookie contracts are great values for the Magic. Lake Wales is just down I-4 and US27.

Naturally, the Magic will not draft him

 

I think a team will shock ( not me) the draft by making him a lottery pick

 

28. Boston Celtics
Givony's pick that fills the biggest need:
Noah Penda, SF/PF, Le Mans, (France)| TS%:55.5

The Celtics have some big needs to address in the wake of Jayson Tatum's season-ending Achilles injury, but they can't have any real expectation to address them in the draft, certainly not this late in the first round.

Finding a combo forward such as Penda, who's capable of soaking up minutes, hopefully gaining some experience and perhaps emerging as capable of adding value in a year from now, would be a major win. Penda's versatility and strong feel for the game played an important role in carving out a strong role in the French first division. He is an intelligent passer who slides all over the court on defense and plays a mature style of basketball for a 20-year-old.

Woo's pick that gets the best value:
Walter Clayton Jr., PG, Florida, Senior | TS%: 61.1

The Celtics hit a home run selecting Payton Pritchard at No. 26 in the first round in 2020, and could see value in developing another scoring-oriented reserve guard in Clayton.

With Boston likely to roster its draft picks as it considers changes to the team moving forward, Clayton might be useful right away as a bench option who can pinch hit for its other guards or step in if the Celtics make trades. His shooting, explosiveness and toughness give him a chance to succeed in a role long term.

 

29. Phoenix Suns (via Cleveland)
Givony's pick that fills the biggest need: Clayton

The Suns have a lot to figure out beyond the draft, but finding backcourt help would be a nice start, and selecting a senior in Clayton could go a long way. Clayton is coming off a spectacular NCAA tournament in which he showed off his scoring instincts, shotmaking prowess and aggressiveness in a major way, helping Florida win a national championship.

Tyus Jones (who started 58 games, averaging 27 minutes per game) is entering free agency, meaning there are certainly minutes to be had at the Suns' point guard position.

Woo's pick that gets the best value:
Rasheer Fleming, PF, Saint Joseph's, Junior | TS%: 64.4

With Kevin Durant trade talks swirling, the Suns are likely entering a transition phase with their roster; they badly needed an infusion of length and defensive versatility last season.

This pick could be best maximized with someone such as Fleming, who should be able to knock down open shots and offer passable minutes early in his career. Position and fit aside, simply finding a legitimate contributor at No. 29 would be a win for a team that doesn't control its future draft capital.

 

given the importance of the "3" in today's game, no doubt he'll be drafted in the second half of the first round. Wouldn't be surprised if he is acquired in a trade as confusing as the NBA draft is

 

Orlando. Good for all concerned.

 

They just traded for a 3-pt specialist guard from Memphis....might not be a good sign for the Magic/Clayton marriage.

 

Bane fills a 3 point shooting need but they still need a point guard. Walter Clayton is still in play for Orlando imo. Their positional needs are a 1 and a 5. If Clayton is there at 25 and the Magic don't take him, and I don't know how to word this logically - it would be unsurprisingly baffling.

 

Clayton reminds me of Fred VanVleet. Should have a good NBA career.

 

Phoenix seems like the spot he'll go.
Love to see him playing with Beal.

 

He’s invited to the green room so I think that bodes well for a first round pick! They don’t typically invite second rounders.

 

The NBA draft will be coming soon.
It will be on June 25th, Wed, 8:00 PM EST.
NBA Draft: 10 prospects besides Cooper Flagg you need to know, including a sure thing and a polarizing enigma

I guess that enigma is Florida's Walter Clayton, Jr.

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Here are some AI generated predictions:
NBA mock draft 2025: AI prediction roundup for first round picks

One of the AI-models, Grok AI, predicted that Walter Clayton will go to Orlando! Is that like the Grog House on Univ. Avenue? Have some beer on the house, lol.

This is actually a real life person predicting that Walter will go to Brooklyn, NY:

I like this prediction the best by Meta AI.
Clayton could be teamed up with Al Horford at Boston!

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Is it just me or does anyone else feels weird that there are all of these AI's emerging on the market? I hope that the AIs won't gang up and take down human civilization like in some movies, lol.

With these AI's being utilized, it kind of feels like when the internet first came on to the masses back in the mid 1990s in visual form with color, images & later short videos. To navigate through the web pages, we had browsers like ?Netscape, Yahoo, etc.

Although when I was a student here at UF in the mid 80s, I did first used the internet at Weil Hall (i.e emails/chat with other students). But it was in boring monochrome form & I didn't think anyone would use it in that current form then. The internet essentially became an interactive yellow pages and more, lol. Anybody kept their old phone books somewhere? lol.

Before coming onto the market decades later, I was introduced at UF to technologies like light-pens & touch-screens which I hated even today. I much preferred using a mouse & keyboard which I still find to be amazing, simple & useful.

In the early 1990s when I was considering doing a 2nd major in computer science at UF, I inquired to a UF CIS professor about the field of artificial intelligence and what its potential was? He told me it was all theoritical/non-practical and don't waste your time in that field kid, lol. He then proceeded to trash the only computer language (FORTRAN) that I knew then as a former engineer and called it 'For-Trash', lol. I was disheartend that I didn't impress the UF prof of my nascent, computer skills then & went off into the real world, lol.
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