The NBA Draft is this Wednesday, and one of the grand mysteries starting to brew is whether or not Florida star Walter Clayton Jr. is going to be drafted in the 1st round. What seemed like a lock after winning the national title has cooled off in mock drafts following the NBA Combine.
So, just how low might the Gator legend fall in the draft?
Will Walter Clayton Jr. fall out of the first round?
CBS Sports just released a mock draft for the first round, and they have Clayton falling out of the first round. This is one of the few mock drafts that exclude Clayton but it does follow a trend we have seen.
Following the national title, a number of mock drafts had Clayton just outside the top 15 and he seemed like a lock for the first round.
But following the NBA Combine, he has seen his stock slip, and a number of Mock Drafts have started to link him to Phoenix at the back end of the first round.
The primary concern for Clayton seems to be his size and whether his defense is at all adequate enough to survive in the NBA. As most Gator fans would argue, and what has been on display during the NBA Playoffs, teams also need a guy who can go out and just get buckets as needed, and few possess that ceiling as Clayton does.
Generally speaking, teams in the back end of the 1st round of the NBA Draft look for high-upside prospects, so it is hard to envision Clayton actually slipping out of the first round.
There is also the backdrop that the NBA has invited Clayton to be in the Green Room during the draft, and it seems unlikely they would do that if he was going to be a second-round prospect.
The NBA Draft will be on Wednesday, starting at 8 PM.