Labaron Philon: The Sophomore Surge
Some sophomores slump in their second act in college. Instead, Alabama's Labaron Philon has surged to new heights. How has he done so and what does Rowan Kent like so much about his game?
Ah, the Sophomore… something. The phrase “sophomore slump” has been played out so much that it’s lost a bit of its burst in my mind. Sure, the idea that one can not meet lofty expectations of their first foray into their given field grabs headlines, but like everything else in the world, there’s always context.
Or, there isn’t. Context, especially in basketball, can form as both a miracle cure and a dangerous trap. It can make perfect sense that two players might not be able to show their all on the floor together because of their seemingly contrasting play styles, but the counterargument is that they may not be good enough to adapt their games for the team's benefit.
That’s why I’m always careful to balance context when looking at a sophomore slump or surge. There can be any number of reasons a player chooses to return to college, especially with the boon of NIL, though they risk missing their best window for their draft stock. Instead of giving a blanket pass for a sophomore slump, I’ve started to get more critical of how much or little context should matter in these cases.
That’s why it’s refreshing to see the opposite from Alabama’s Labaron Philon, who has had a sophomore surge instead of a slump. Philon has cemented himself as firmly in the top tier of first-round guard prospects vying to go in the lottery, but what has he done to better his game and surge to new heights after coming back to college?
Turning Up the Volume at the Rim
For many draftniks, last season was a bummer because Labaron Philon chose not to leave Alabama and enter the 2025 NBA draft. Although about a third of first-round picks from last draft were guards or guard-wing tweener, there was certainly room there for Philon, who dazzled enough in his freshman season to put himself on NBA radars.
In his first year for the Crimson Tide, Philon formed a killer core of sharpshooting guards for Nate Oats. While the group was led by All-American Mark Sears and veterans like Aden Holloway and Chris Youngblood, a few redshirt decisions and injuries opened the door for Philon. He capitalized, averaging 10.6 points per game, posting a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, and starting 29 games for Alabama.
After his sterling surprise season, Philon went through the NBA Draft Combine proceedings, where his near-6’3” height and 6’6” wingspan put him firmly in NBA point guard size. It was a surprise, albeit a minor one, that Philon chose to return to college rather than gamble on his NBA future after a single season.
That decision looks quite prescient on the surface, as Philon has positively exploded in a new role for the Crimson Tide. He’s doubled his scoring output per game, upped his assist percentage, lowered his turnover percentage, and nearly doubled his shot attempts per game, all while actually improving his efficiency. In short order, Labaron Philon has become a bona fide star guard.
This massive leap, if you were to look reductively, would come from a simple reason: opportunity. Without Mark Sears and Chris Youngblood’s touches in the backcourt, someone had to pick up the slack for Alabama. The three-headed guard monster of last season has shrunk to a two-headed harbinger of doom with just Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway wreaking havoc.
Looking only at the context around Philon ignores the clear strides he’s made in his game since last season. Without adjustment and improvements, Philon couldn’t simply double his numbers from the field with the same approach. Instead, I’m most impressed with Labaron Philon not only getting to the rim much more as the primary ball-handler, but achieving the rare feat of finishing better there, too.
As a freshman, per Synergy, Labaron Philon took 3.8 shots at the rim per game, hitting those on an “average” efficiency mark of 53.9%. Those are fine numbers for a freshman supporting piece, but too shallow a mark for a true top scoring option. Compare that to this season, where Philon has upped his shot diet to 5.6 shots at the rim per game, which he’s at a 66.7% clip.
On both the stat sheet and on tape, it’s clear that Labaron Philon has evolved into a great finisher at the basket. He’s using his length to finish over players—something he did well as a freshman—but another year in Nate Oats’s system has yielded a deeper understanding of driving angles. Philon knows how to position his defender for an incoming screen, where the rest of his teammates are, and when to dart into the lane to attack the basket with abandon.
With a slightly tighter handle and an improved first step, Philon has put together a nice mix of pace, touch, and timing in his drives. There’s not much opponents can do when he careens down the lane, as the threat of his passing is such a strain on their processing already. It’s also helpful that Philon, who took 42 floaters last season at a 59.5% clip, has already attempted 50 floaters at a 48.0% that isn’t too far off efficiency-wise.
For Philon, it’s not just about getting to the cup, having a changeup when the paint is walled off, or converting at the hoop. He’s upped his free-throw attempts per game, deriving from his altered shot diet and persistent willingness to absorb contact and get easy points for his offense. Philon is averaging 5.7 free-throw attempts per game, although he’s even kicked that into high gear in SEC conference play, with 7.0 attempts per contest.
The way that Philon is getting his freebies isn’t any different than how he’s driven all season. Simply put, the increase in volume has changed who he is as a player. It’s likely a mix of letting go of the shackles of playing behind Mark Sears and Philon’s own internal improvement, with the result being a combination that has tormented any defense he’s faced.
As a freshman, Philon had a lot of tantalizing tools to help him get to the rim without a big enough sample to promise growth. Having already seen a bigger sample with his larger role, I feel confident that Labaron Philon can carry a bigger offensive load at the NBA level as a driver, too, which increases his value to any NBA team eager to get scoring pop from their lead guard spot.
Target Acquired from Deep
In his limited touches, Labaron Philon did a great job as a scorer but clearly needs improvement in his shooting. As a true point guard by height and size, Philon’s ability to shoot was paramount to his overall chances of making the league. There weren’t any glaring flaws with Philon’s shot, which inspired some hope that he could work on this aspect of his game and come back with improved results.
Time to check that one off the list, too! As a freshman, per Synergy, he shot a paltry 31.5% on 124 attempts from deep. Alabama is a fast-paced, shot-chucking team that thrives on deep looks, leaving Philon as a curious weak link in that lineup. In particular, Philon’s 31.5% on 89 catch-and-shoot three-pointers was an issue, as it limited his utility off-ball playing with Mark Sears.
A year later, that problem has started to work itself out. I’m an admitted small sample size hater, but with 60 attempts on catch-and-shoot threes on the year already, it’s certainly an encouraging sign that Philon is hitting these types of shots at a 45.0% clip. He’s even upped his amount taken per game marginally, going from 2.4 catch-and-shoot threes attempted per game to 3.0 per contest as a sophomore.
The same hallmarks of Philon’s shooting motion before, with his quick release and ability to get shots off without a set base, are all still on display in his improved tape. What’s different, then, seems to be that Philon’s confidence has been boosted. He’s stepping into these shots more, firing them with impunity, and taking command of his looks from deep in the same way that he has with his increased rim attempts.
That hasn’t quite translated to his pull-up shooting, which is a “final frontier” of sorts for Philon’s scoring arsenal. If he could reliably hit these jumpers, it would open up the last bits of his pick-and-roll game alongside his isolation scoring package. Despite his smaller profile, there’d really be nothing holding back Philon from being a potential top-scoring option in the NBA... if his pull-up could just agree with that sentiment.
Right now, it’s not quite there. Last season, Philon shot a paltry 32.4% on 34 pull-up three-pointer attempts. He also shot only four mid-range jumpers from two-point range, hitting two, but the sample is still so small it’s almost not worth mentioning. It’s been more of the same from the three-point front, as Philon has taken 54 pull-up shots from deep, but has only canned 27.8% percent of these.
Some of these looks have been well-covered attempts where Philon is trying to dig his team out of a hole, but the odd lack of consistency on these shots does put a ceiling on Philon’s star ceiling. It’s great that he can hit any type of three-point look now, but it would be much more helpful for his overall career projection to start hitting his threes in the way that he’s hit his 8/19 two-point middies this season.
These shots will be paramount for Philon to hit if he starts to reach a higher star ceiling, but that can only come if the deeper pull-ups are falling. Until then, I’ll settle for the mild improvement from deep painting a rosier picture of what Philon can do as an off-ball player. While his on-ball juice is what gives his draft stock steam, his spot-up shooting serves to shift him up in an ever-tightening ranking of top-tier point guard prospects in this year’s draft class.
Signature Dishes of All Sorts
Counting Philon, there are about six point guards of various ages who could all figure into the 2026 NBA Draft lottery conversation. That’s both exciting for teams that need a floor general and critical for prospects to differentiate themselves.
While scoring from the point guard position is a key feature of any modern NBA offense, the need to create for others with the ball in one’s hands is just as important. There are outlier cases of players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker improving as passers to the point that they can run their team’s offense for a time, but the presence of a dedicated lead guard who can create their own openings and passing angles is worth its weight in wins.
Last year, Labaron Philon showed some good creation touches, albeit behind the massive shadow of Mark Sears’s ball domination. He had a 2.12 assist-to-turnover ratio on 20.9% usage, which is solid, but not one that would be associated with a future floor general in an NBA offense. This year, he’s cranked up the volume with an improved 33.5% assists percentage, which is more in line with what one would expect from a conductor of an NBA team.
Philon hit some slick feeds last season, but he’s sharpened his passing to a pinpoint. He operates mostly in screen-and-roll scenarios, with strong bigs like Aidan Sherrell and Charles Bedaiko already developing great chemistry. The addition of Bedaiko has helped, in particular, juice Philon’s lob passes, giving him an even taller target with a ridiculous catch radius to catch his quickly delivered lobs over the top of would-be defenders.
Aside from tossing the rock where only his titanic teammates can catch it, Philon has also shown an increased mastery of how to operate the pick-and-roll. I’d attribute part of Philon’s growth to the angles that are now open due to his increased driving dangers, but he’s also done a better job hitting the same reads to open shooters on the perimeter and dump-offs to bigs than he did last season.
There are two key areas where I’ve noticed small improvements in Labaron Philon’s passing that may go unnoticed. First, he’s figured out a way to add a ton of speed to his passes while delivering them with proper pace to waiting shooters. If that sounds like a difficult conundrum to solve for a point guard, that’s because it is.
These looks are within the rhythm of the offense, but having spent a year dishing and swishing for the Crimson Tide, Philon’s decision-making has hit the turbo boosters this year. He simply knows better where his teammates will be, which has left him able to hit these looks much faster than he did last season.
In a similar vein to his pass pacing, Labaron Philon has added a bit more flair to some of his passes. He’s started to stunt on his opponents with several no-look dishes against set defenses, as Philon’s advanced knowledge of Nate Oats’s system has given him the freedom to put some flair on his passes.
While neither of these little details makes Philon a better passer per se, they both show increased knowledge and comfort with Alabama’s system. That’s the biggest takeaway for me, as Philon’s sophomore surge has been built upon his improved approach to his game through his extensive knowledge of his team’s offense.
A Well-Timed Surge
While some prospects can’t keep up their sterling performances as freshmen when they return as sophomores, Alabama’s Labaron Philon has done quite the opposite. With an increased role in his team’s offense, Philon has exploded into a star point guard who not only has shored up some of his weaknesses but has also steadied his success to a more believable level for his NBA future.
As a guard who can put pressure on a defense going downhill, make any read out of a ball screen, and hit spot-up three pointers, Philon projects easily as a player who would one day start at point guard for his eventual NBA home. His ball-handling, court vision, and scoring touch are all boons for any offense, even though he’d be targeted defensively due to his fundamentals and frame.
If Philon were to keep surging and improve upon his last frontier of scoring with his pull-up shooting, however, the outlook for him would change. He’d have an outsider’s chance to become a star scorer for a team, given his versatility and the way that he manipulates defenses to his whim.
It remains to be seen whether Philon can surge his skills one more time to level up again, but even comparing him from last year to this year, the difference is apparent. When June rolls around, barring anything truly unforeseen, Labaron Philon should fit somewhere in the talented point guard crop in the 2026 NBA draft and make a team very happy with their future point guard potential.