What Walter Clayton’s Grizzlies Trade Means for his Future
As the NBA trade window has come to a definite close, one notable trade didn’t go unnoticed by Florida fans. The Utah Jazz traded former Florida basketball standout Walter Clayton Jr. to the Memphis Grizzlies along with Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang and three future first-round picks.
After the Jazz selected him with the 18th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Clayton has only averaged 18 minutes per game so far this season — a detrimentally low number for someone who declared for the draft after one of the most impressive seasons in college basketball history. Given his lack of production, Clayton would only record 6.8 points per game and 2.0 rebounds per game so far this year.
In hindsight, it was no help that the Jazz sat second to last in the Western Conference, and, thus, Clayton was surrounded by one of the weaker squads in the NBA. But the question at hand here is what’s at stake for Clayton’s playing time and production in this trade, as he’s still a young star in need of some serious big league exposure.
Clayton will join the likes of Ja Morant, Ty Jerome, Cedric Coward and Cam Spencer in the backcourt for the Grizzlies, but as it stands, he sits fourth in the depth chart at both shooting guard and point guard. As seen during his time with the Jazz, it’s going to be a long climb up a steep hill for Clayton to reach a starting spot.
This is, in a way, a head-scratching case: a national championship-winning rookie changing teams only three months into his NBA career with lackluster playing time and little to no telling what the future may hold. There is no direct comparison in recent NBA history.
What we do know is that it is only up from here for Clayton, as lingering doubts about Morant’s future in Memphis could prove decisive for an uptick in Clayton’s usage. Another upside to this move is that Memphis is one of the most productive teams off the bench this season, allowing for him to possibly see the court slightly more. The Grizzlies lead the league in points off the bench with 2,272, an impressive number that Clayton can directly contribute to. That said, Clayton should be equipped with greater time on the ball to produce breakout numbers and turn heads the way he did all last season at Florida.
Category: Former Gators, NBA
