Ad Disclosure
Alabama has already taken a hit for next season just a few weeks after falling 1 game short of the Final Four.
Guard Labaron Philon announced on Monday on his Instagram that he will leave Tuscaloosa after just 1 season and declare for the NBA Draft. Philon was a key part of the Crimson Tide’s latest deep NCAA Tournament run, averaging 10.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists for Nate Oats’s powerhouse team. Philon was also disruptive on the defensive end, averaging 1.4 steals.
He was both an iron man, playing in all 37 of Alabama’s games this past season, and he managed to make an immediate impact as a freshman, starting 29 of those games.
But Philon believes he’s done all he can do in Tuscaloosa and will now seek to fulfill his NBA dreams. The 6-foot-4 guard from Mobile wrote an emotional message on his Instagram, thanking his Crimson Tide coaches and teammates as well as the fans.
Here is Philon’s full message:
Philon didn’t even leave the slightest possibility of returning to Alabama next season. He told ESPN he’s “all in on starting my pro career.”
Philon certainly left his mark in Tuscaloosa during his 1 and only season there, earning All-SEC Freshman Team honors in helping Alabama win 28 games and advance all the way to the Elite Eight.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
