UF basketball senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. has a vision for his professional career — one that doesn’t involve flexing cars or jewelry.
His vision stems from the birth of his daughter, Leilani Leigh Clayton, who was born on Dec. 11, 2023, in Lakeland, Florida. Just two days later, Clayton Jr. said in an Instagram post that she was ‘his new why.’
Following her birth, Clayton Jr.’s girlfriend, Tatiyana Burney, made extensive efforts to travel from their hometown in Lake Wales, Florida, to Gainesville so the family could spend as much time together as possible at the beginning of the basketball season.
Clayton Jr. met Burney when he was in middle school and has been by her side ever since, though they weren’t nearly as close geographically when he started his collegiate basketball career at Iona University in upstate New York.
Before Clayton Jr. transferred south for his final season with the Gators, Burney and her daughter packed their bags and moved in with Clayton Jr. to allow the family to spend more time together.
With the relentless practice and game schedules that Division I athletes balance alongside school work, Clayton Jr. said he sometimes struggles with time management. This is one of the many reasons why Clayton Jr.’s mother, Cherie Quarg, is grateful for Burney’s willingness to move in with her son.
“After I met her, I realized that she lets him kind of be him,” Quarg said. “She knows he's busy with his sports and that he always has kind of put that first. She never was with the high school drama... She [kind of] blended right in with our little family.”
Growing up, Clayton Jr.’s main interests revolved around either playing sports or video games, Quarg said. She described him as someone who always got along with his peers and was even a class clown, but not the type that got in trouble.
Clayton Jr.’s aspirations of playing in the NBA have been evident from a young age, Quarg said. However, she knew there were distractions for young athletes in his position. Making the path even more difficult is the 1.2% of NCAA men’s basketball players that end up in the NBA, according to collegevine.com.
“I didn't want anything, whether it's a girl, whether it's a baby, whether it's anything, I didn't want everything that he worked so hard for to kind of crumble,” Quarg said.
Clayton Jr. was named a 2024 Preseason First Team All-SEC nominee and is currently leading the Gators with 17.4 points per game this season en route to UF’s first 8-0 start since the 2009-10 campaign.
Off the court, Quarg is well aware there are still areas Clayton Jr. can improve, though she has caught word from Burney that his ability to balance basketball with family time has improved over roughly the last month, she said.
“As a mom, it just kind of lights you up inside,” Quarg said. “Because that's what you want to hear from your son, is that they're going to do everything that they can to make sure that their kid [is] taken care of.”
In Clayton Jr.’s time away from the basketball court, he enjoys bowling with his girlfriend and daughter, as well as gathering with extended family members to enjoy their presence and good food, Quarg said.
It was a busy offseason for Clayton Jr. leading up to his senior season with the Gators. He went through the NBA Draft process in April but ultimately decided to hold off on his professional dream and return to UF.
Moreover, his growth and maturity have been extensively evident through the eyes of his teammates and coaches since arriving at Florida.
“Walter is a very unique guy, he’s a great player, he’s a really, really awesome person too,” UF head coach Todd Golden said. “Very mature for his age. And I think the thing I love the most about Walter is his level of self-confidence because he believes in himself about as much as you can without being arrogant.”
With his hot start to the 2024-25 season, Clayton Jr. has already drawn attention from NBA scouts. The senior guard is currently projected to be selected in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft, according to nbadraft.net.
An opportunity to play in the NBA could give Clayton Jr. the chance to create generational wealth for himself and his entire family. But it’s his nearly one-year-old daughter who remains at the forefront of his inspiration to achieve this goal.
“She is depending on me to provide for her,” Clayton Jr. said. “I'm still kind of figuring out the whole father thing. Just, you know how to be there for her every day, being there as much as I possibly can. So it’s just a lot of extra motivation.”
The sacrifices Clayton Jr.’s family made last season helped immensely regarding his ability to manage his time on and off the court, he said.
However, the then-junior guard took matters into his own hands regarding being present for Leilani’s birth on Dec. 11 of last year. It took less than 72 hours for Clayton Jr. to get a sense of the aforementioned balancing act of fatherhood.
“We had a game in Lakeland right after [the birth], Clayton Jr. said. “So I was kind of already there. [It allowed me] to come back up here and play basketball.”
It’s safe to say that Clayton Jr. has a bit more on his plate than the average 21-year-old college student. The Lake Wales native understands the importance of continuing to improve as a father.
“I definitely think [Leilani’s birth] helped maturity-wise,” Clayton Jr. said. “I probably still got some more maturing to do, so me and Leilani [are] kind of growing together right now.”
Contact Max Tucker at mtucker@alligator.org. Follow him on X @Max_Tuckr1.
Max Tucker is a junior transfer student at UF. After obtaining his A.A. in Journalism from Santa Fe College in 2023, he chose further his education at Florida's College of Journalism and Communications. Max is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Journalism with a specialization in sports and media. He enjoys golfing and going to the beach with his friends in his free time.
