What a week for Walter Clayton Jr.

Clayton (6’3, 195), who was taken No. 18 overall by the Utah Jazz in the first round of last month’s NBA Draft, signed with the Jazz on July 2, along with No. 5 pick Ace Bailey (Rutgers).

He quickly earned the nickname “Walt Lake City,” to which he replied at a recent press conference, “I’ve got a little bit more work to put in before we start with that.”

The former Gator helped lead his new team to a 3-0 start in the Salt Lake City Summer League.

In his debut last Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers, a 93-89 win by the Jazz, Clayton logged 25 minutes and scored nine points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out six assists.

This past Monday, in a 112-111 win against the Memphis Grizzlies, he struggled with just four points and six turnovers in 24 minutes of action, although he did finish with six assists.

However, Clayton made a bold statement on Tuesday in an 86-82 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In 28 minutes of action, the rookie scored a game-high 20 points, including 15 in the second half. He finished 4-of-10 from 3-point range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line, adding four assists, one rebound, one steal and a block against the defending NBA champions.

“I’m definitely feeling more comfortable, but that just comes with the games and the experience,” Clayton told Utah Jazz sideline reporter Lauren Green in a walk-off interview following his third game. “We’re young, I feel like we’re unselfish. We just play fast, so it’s a good group of guys and we’re going to be able to get stuff done.”

Then, a week after signing, Clayton was named the Southeastern Conference Male Athlete of the Year on Wednesday.

He joined Danny Wuerffel (1995, ’96), Ryan Lochte (2005), Tim Tebow (2007, ’08), Caeleb Dressel (2018) and Grant Holloway (2019) in becoming the sixth UF male athlete to be honored, but the first in basketball.

Clayton helped lead the Gators to their third national title in program history by averaging 18.3 points per game in his senior year.

He averaged 22.3 ppg in the postseason, scoring 34 points against Auburn in the Final Four and 30 versus Texas Tech in the Elite Eight to become the first player with 30-point games in both the Elite Eight and semifinals since Larry Bird (Indiana State) in 1979.

The consensus first-team All-American, who scored a single-season school record with 713 points, became the first UF player to score more than 100 points in a single NCAA Tournament (134).

But the week isn’t over yet.

Tonight at 7 p.m., Clayton will face Kon Knueppel (Duke) and the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA 2K26 Summer League in Las Vegas (ESPN).

Knueppel, who was selected fourth overall in the 2025 NBA Draft, is facing immense pressure to succeed in Summer League.

This year marks the 20th NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. The competition has been held every year since 2004, except in 2011 and 2020. All 30 NBA teams will play in Las Vegas for the seventh straight time (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025).

In other Gator news, Alijah Martin, the 39th pick in the 2025 NBA draft, officially signed a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.

That means he will be splitting his time between the NBA Raptors and their G League affiliate, Raptors 905.

Martin, who became just the fourth player in NCAA Division I history to reach the Final Four with two different programs (Florida and FAU), is expected to make his debut tonight at 8 p.m. against the Chicago Bulls.

Last weekend, the Golden State Warriors acquired the draft rights to Will Richard, who was the third Gator selected in this year’s NBA Draft.

Richard, who was selected 56th overall by the Golden State Warriors (via a trade with Memphis), had a solid debut in a 90-88 last-second loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

In 25 minutes, he scored 16 points, including 8-for-8 on free throw attempts, along with four rebounds, one assist and two steals.

The Warriors are back in action at 11 p.m. tonight against Portland.