ESPN analyst shares thoughts on Florida basketball players heading into 2025 NBA Draft

• Florida could have three players drafted in the 2025 NBA Draft.
• Walter Clayton Jr. is projected as a first-round pick, potentially between 15th and 25th.
• ESPN analyst Jay Bilas praises Clayton’s scoring ability but notes his lack of size as a potential concern.
• Alijah Martin and Will Richard are considered potential second-round picks.

The 2025 NBA Draft is set for June 25-26 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. and will air on ESPN.

Coming off a national championship season, Florida basketball could wind up getting up to three players picked over the two days.

The most likely selection is All-American combo guard Walter Clayton Jr., who was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player after leading the Florida Gators to their third national title in school history in San Antonio, Texas.

Most mock web sites project the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Clayton ― who averaged 18.3 points and 4.2 assists last season ― to go between the 15th and 25th pick in the first round of the draft.

Clayton’s two backcourt teammates ― guards Alijah Martin and Will Richard ― could go in the second round.

Here’s what ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas thinks of all three of UF’s draftable players:

Walter Clayton Jr.: Bilas views Clayton as a first-round pick, based in part of his postseason heroics, averaging 22.3 points and 3.3 assists in six NCAA Tournament games. He became the first player since Larry Bird in 1979 to score 30 or more points in an Elite Eight game (30 points against Texas Tech) and Final Four game (34 points against Auburn).

“I don’t think anybody, really, in a long time has performed as well as Walter Clayton Jr. did in the NCAA Tournament. I mean he put up numbers up until the championship game,” Bilas said. “I mean he put up numbers up until the championship game that people were saying it was the first time Larry Bird did it in 1979 or something like that. I don’t remember the full comps for the multiple 30-point games he had. You know it was just sort of big shot after big shot, and they were all, it seemed like every shot he made, was contested.”

Bilas said some teams could take pause due to Clayton’s lack of size.

“He can shoot it with great range” Bilas said. “He shoots it off the catch or the dribble, he can create his own, he can dribble into his shot in transition, he’s just a scorer. The only thing you can say he’s not at the elite level, he doesn’t possess elite size, or length and he’s not the type of player that you can say, ‘OK, he makes a big defensive impact.’ …

“That’s really the only thing you could say that wouldn’t be a strong positive, but with that scoring piece that he has, that competitive nature that he brings to the game, I don’t have any doubt he’s going to be taken in the first round, he could go in the teens.”

Alijah Martin and Will Richard: Bilas views both as second round picks.

“Alijah Martin played in the Final Four for Florida Atlantic and brings a great deal of grit and toughness,” Bilas said. “He’s a strong driver, good pull-up jump shooter. He can stretch it out to three and a very good physical defender. He tends to get his steals kind of on the ball but gets steals and get deflections…

“Will Richard is similar in defensive capability. Both of those guys can switch out. They’re tough defenders. Richard a little bit different in how he defends, and his strength as a defender, he’s not quite as physical as Martin but he’s not anti-physical. He’s got really good range on his jump shot. He’s a shooter. Both of those guys are good players that I expect to play in the NBA. I just don’t see them as first round picks in this draft.”

Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com

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