After an illustrious senior season with the Florida men’s basketball team, guard Walter Clayton Jr. was named Kramer Athlete of the Year Wednesday afternoon.
Clayton is the 14th recipient of the award in program history. He is the first male Florida athlete since men’s track & field hurdler Grant Holloway won the award in 2019 and the first UF athlete since Parker Valby won it in 2024.
“You look at guys like Fred VanVleet, Damian Lillard, like he's in that bucket,” head coach Todd Golden said June 17. “The guy just had the most incredible senior season tournament run, whatever you want to say. He's got real size, [is an] incredible athlete, elite shooter. I mean, what doesn't he do? And he just wins all the games.”
The award marks another milestone garnered by Clayton following the Gators’ 2025 National Championship.
The Lake Wales, Florida, native won Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors, became the first consensus First Team All-America athlete in program history and was drafted No. 18 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz.
The former Florida product spent two years with the program and averaged 17.9 points, 3.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game.
Clayton was a significant factor during the Gators’ national championship run. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 22.3 points, 3.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game over six tournament games. He logged two 30-point games and tallied 34 points against Auburn in the Final Four.
Facing a 12-point deficit against Houston in the national title game, Clayton recorded 11 points in the second half and lifted Florida to its third national championship in program history.
Currently, Clayton is playing in the NBA Summer League and is averaging 11 points per game while shooting 37% from beyond the arc. He recorded 20 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday night.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on X @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is working his fifth semester at The Alligator and returns as the Summer 2025 assistant sports editor. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with his cat Pete and researching niche professional athletes (shoutout Jacquizz Rodgers).
