January 16th

We laid out the most impressive statistic in college basketball within the first installment of Labaron Philon’s player profile: despite Alabama boasting the single toughest strength of schedule, and no guard in the country taking on a higher offensive load than him, Philon converted 65% of his 77 two-point attempts. Somehow, despite taking 70 more attempts since then, he’s retained the majority of this efficiency by converting 64% of them. This level of interior scoring efficiency is truly against all odds as a 6-foot-4 point guard. Even when adjusted for sample size through padded statistics (there’s no need to worry about the mathematic specifics here), Philon’s two-point percentage ranks in the 100th percentile among guards.

“Against all odds” succinctly summarizes Philon, the country’s top Offensive Box Plus-Minus (OBPM) performer among high-major sophomores. OBPM estimates the number of points per 100 possessions a team is better or worse with a player on the court. According to it, Alabama is 3.6 points per 100 possessions better with Philon on than off, a 99th percentile rank. He continues to score and pass with tremendous volume, all while turning the ball over at a micro-low rate relative to his offensive burden. His 46.3 points per 100 possessions rank in the 100th percentile, 10.5 assists per 100 in the 96th percentile, and 0.3% True Turnover Rate in the 99th percentile. Even our primary qualm with Philon — his low foul drawing volume and dependance on shotmaking — has improved since December, as his Free Throw Rate now ranks in the 74th percentile. With a large offensive burden, strong shotmaking and foul-drawing, and masterful passing while leading the nation’s single best offense, Labaron Philon has undoubtedly proven his status as the 2026 NBA draft’s best lead guard.

December 4th

Entering the 2025-26 season, we expected Labaron Philon to leap from one of the best point guards in the country as a freshman to the single best as a sophomore. In such a talent-laden point guard class, filled with stamped returners like Bennett Stirtz and talented incomers like Kingston Flemings, this was a high expectation to meet, but one we had sufficient reasoning for. Philon posted some of the best passing, touch, and physicality among guards last season, which are three pillars for projecting guards to the NBA. He maintained a stellar 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio (passing), converted 44% on his midrange attempts (touch), and pulled down a 3.8% offensive rebounding rate alongside a 1.2% block rate (physicality). Philon’s primary pitfalls were his mediocre 58% field-goal percentage at the rim and a 28.7% free throw rate, both of which limited his overall scoring efficiency. However, both of these issues were a byproduct of his lightweight 175-pound frame, not his physicality. After a summer of bulking that led to a fresh 185-pound frame, it was fair to project imminent improvement in his interior scoring efficiency. As you’ll see in his profile above and in the descriptions below, that proved to be correct.

Perhaps the most impressive statistic in all of college basketball follows. Despite Alabama boasting the single toughest strength of schedule thus far, and no guard in the country taking on a higher offensive load than him, Labaron Philon has converted 65% of his 77 two-point attempts. It’s difficult to maintain such two-point efficiency against elite competition by itself, and it’s difficult to maintain such two-point efficiency with a high offensive load by itself… but Philon has done it against both, by merging 49% midrange efficiency with an improved 72% rim efficiency. While we must proclaim that this is tiny sample size of just eight games, and that these numbers will inevitably regress to varying degrees, it is a spectacular start nonetheless.

Philon has also managed to take a leap as a passer. While his scoring volume is quite high, his playmaking volume is even higher and is what primarily drives his best-in-the-world offensive load. Box Creation, an estimate of the number of open shots created for teammates per 100 possessions, is built on top of traditional assists using other box-score elements. In it, Philon ranks in the 100th percentile. His raw 5.4 turnovers per 100 possessions might seem high at first glance, but when adjusted for his maniacal scoring and playmaking volume, his 0.4% True Turnover Rate is micro-low. These high outputs are once again inflated by a small sample size, but this does not detract from Philon’s supreme passing ability while turning the ball over at a relatively low rate, a trait that dates back to his AAU days.