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Yahoo Sports’ Draft Live crew reacts to the Utah Jazz’s selection of Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. with the 18th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
But I, I do love this, and the reason why is because we talked about his tournament run.
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It was incredible.
He hit some shots that had me get out of my seat and say, oh my goodness, and I hate, I hate to, I hate to throw these things out there, but he was so close to Steph.
It was literally we go.
I’m not saying he’s gonna be the same, the same person.
I’m not saying that, right?
But the shots that he hit the, you, you watched it.
You can’t tell me that didn’t look like Steph Curry-esque.
You can’t tell me.
That straight away from the basket and turning around and hitting a 30 and, and the balls it takes to take his ability to be able to shoot 3 off the dribble is as good as almost anybody I’ve seen in a very, very long time.
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He can shoot it off the dribble and he has deep range.
That’s what makes this young man scary.
He’s also a better playmaker than we give him credit for.
He can make plays.
I he a twe tape?
Is he a tween?
No, I think he can hold it down the point guard spot.
I think he’s that good.
I think he, I think he can.
I hate saying this.
I, I think he can play a similar role to what Steph Curry does.
Is that because is Steph Curry a point guard?
Yes, then I, I think, I think he could do the same thing.
Not, not, not at the same level, but I think he could do the same thing and play the same, same type of role for Utah.
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Your thoughts on that and is Utah.
I have too many guards.
It doesn’t matter.
I mean, it’s, it’s a clean slate, still, still a young roster.
Isah Collier, you know, you get Keante George.
You took some, some shots in recent years.
Those guys, Collier showed some stuff as a rookie, but he’s not a shooter.
I think he’s more of a rotation guard.
Walter Clayton.
You said 39.8% on catch and shoot threes, 36.9% on dribble jumper threes, and that’s a great number considering the degree of difficulty of those shots he took, not just in the tournament but throughout the entire season.
Clayton is clutch.
He looked like Steph at times and also he does more stuff than that.
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My concerns for him heading into the tournament.
Or what is he gonna be like defensively?
What’s his playmaking gonna be like?
And I think with Clayton, he shot 60% at the rim, so he does a little bit more than shoot.
The passing is like these quick decisions, kick aheads in transition.
Think about like he’s not Halliburton as a playmaker, but moving the ball, keeping it going, playing a crisp style of play.
That’s what Walter Clayton’s like as a playmaker and then defensively I.
He held up biggest games of the year, held up, played hard.
He’s a winner.
He has one of the engines of that Florida Gators team and why they won the national title.
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And so you pair him with Ace Bailey.
Talk about creating culture.
Clayton’s a culture creator and so I think with Ace Bailey, he’s a winner, and I think with Utah they have some good players there.
Larry Marin maybe he has a bounce back year.
We’ll see what happens with.
Walker Kessler, if they keep him at the 5, they get some pieces and they get some upside players with Clayton here, Bailey in the lottery.
I’m very, very intrigued what the angs in that Utah Jazz front office are doing.
Is this a steal you said earlier that whoever thought it would be a steal that steal the draft so far?
I mean, I’ll stick with, uh, OK, I’m gonna take it here.
Let me take this one steal of the draft.
