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Labaron Philon Jr.
2025–26 Alabama season averages
Draft Outlook
Philon helped himself by coming back. The extra year gave teams a cleaner read on what he is when the offense belongs to him more often, and the answer was strong enough to push him into the first-round conversation for real. In most boards he now lands somewhere from the lottery into the middle of the round because the scoring jump and the command both looked real.
The draft file is easier to understand now than it was a year ago. He declared on April 7, 2026, and his May 1 combine invite confirmed that he is firmly in the mix. At 6’2 1/2”, with real shot creation and enough passing feel to run offense, he looks like the kind of point guard teams can picture fitting into an NBA rotation without too much imagination.
Biography and Background
Mobile is where the profile started to build before Alabama ever got him on campus. He starred at Baker High School, won Alabama Mr. Basketball, and then finished his prep career at Link Academy. By the end of high school he was already viewed as one of the better point guard prospects in the 2024 class.
That background shows up in the way he plays. He looks comfortable creating offense, but he also looks used to adapting to different roles and talent levels around him. Alabama got a local prospect with real pedigree, and by his second year he had turned into one of the most productive guards in the country.
College Career and Production
The freshman year was solid, but the sophomore season is what changed the draft conversation. Alabama lists him at 725 points in 2025-26, the third-highest single-season total in program history, and he averaged 22.0 points with 5.0 assists while shooting 50.1 percent from the field.
The production was not empty volume either. He scored 20 or more points 21 times, hit a pair of 35-point games, and still had games where the passing carried the offense instead. That balance matters. He did not look like a point guard who needed one specific game script to be effective.
Strengths
The biggest strength is how under control he looks with the ball. He changes pace well, gets to his spots, and does a good job forcing the defense to react before making the next read. He is not just hunting shots. He can actually run offense.
The size helps too. At 6’2 1/2”, he still has enough size for the position, and the scoring profile looks believable because it comes in a few different ways. He can get downhill, hit pull-ups, and make defenses pay when they overplay the drive. That gives him a cleaner projection than smaller guards who need everything built around them.
Concerns and Development Areas
The main question is how the scoring translates against longer and more physical NBA defenders. Philon is productive, but he is not overwhelming people with pure burst or size. Teams will want to know how much separation he can keep creating when the floor gets tighter.
There is also the normal point guard question. He can score and pass, but NBA teams will still study whether he projects as a full-time point guard or more of a combo guard who shares that burden. That does not make him a weak prospect. It just affects where teams see the cleanest fit.
2026 NCAA Tournament
Alabama got a strong March sample from him. He scored 29 points in the first-round win over Hofstra, then followed that with nine points and a career-high 12 assists in the second-round win over Texas Tech. That second game helped the evaluation because it showed he could control the game without needing to dominate the scoring.
His final college game was the Sweet 16 loss to Michigan, where he scored a career-high-tying 35 points with seven rebounds and four assists. Alabama lost 90-77, but Philon’s shot-making held up on a big stage. The tournament probably did not change his range much, but it did strengthen the case that he belongs firmly in the first-round mix.
Related Tools
- 2026 NBA Mock Draft & Lottery Forecast: see how the lottery order could play out and which prospects land where.
- Prospect Ranking Methodology: how TankOdds weights tools, production and fit in its draft rankings.
- Team Pick Sim: model pick-protection rules and conveyance odds for any team.
By: Oren Fugon
Last updated: May 14, 2026
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