Walter Clayton Jr.’s 1-year-old daughter stole the show at 2025 NBA Draft
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Walter Clayton Jr. will never forget Wednesday night, as he was selected by Utah Jazz with the No. 18 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. For the NBA world, it was also the night they met Leilani Leigh Clayton, the former Florida Gator’s young daughter.
Clayton and girlfriend Tatiyana Burney brought Leilani to Brooklyn for the first round of the draft. Even before the first pick, the cameras were drawn to Leilani.
Walter Clayton Jr. getting draft ready with his daughter pic.twitter.com/uz0EibxsbB
— NBA Draft (@NBADraft) June 25, 2025
When Clayton was called with the No. 18 pick (officially of the Washington Wizards but traded to the Utah Jazz), Leilani was visibly excited to see her dad take the stage.
Walter Clayton Jr.'s daughter points and shouts "DADA" as he goes up the stage to get drafted pic.twitter.com/rwXgvRAQ8M
— r/nba_highlights (@rNBAHighlights) June 26, 2025
In one of the more humorous moments captured on camera, Leilani had little interest in congratulations from prominent agent Rich Paul.
Walter Clayton Jr’s daughter wanted nothing to deal with Rich Paul
— Andrew Jerell Jones, Luke 1:37 (BlueSky too now) (@sluggahjells) June 26, 2025
@TWDTV1 pic.twitter.com/tQpKLrx8a2
As one would expect, Clayton credits his young daughter as his leading source of motivation since her birth in December 2023. Clayton seems to have the role of “Girl Dad” down as his basketball career takes the next step.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
