Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide received spectacular news late last night when Labaron Philon announced he’s withdrawing from the 2025 NBA Draft to return to Tuscaloosa for his sophomore season.
“I am thankful for all the support from my family, friends and Alabama throughout this process,” Philon told Yea Alabama, the school’s NIL program. “I learned a lot throughout the NBA Draft process and received a lot of great feedback. After careful consideration, I am happy to announce that I will be returning to Alabama for my sophomore season! Roll Tide!”
It was interesting to see how Yea Alabama announced his return, and it did so at 10:31 p.m. Central, only 29 minutes before the deadline.
Translation: Philon got paid.
Philon, who was projected to go late in the first round by many respected mock drafts, had told reporters at the NBA Draft Combine earlier this month, “I’m all-in on the draft.”
Therefore, most felt like Philon was gone and publications weren’t even mentioning his name as a possible withdrawal in recent days.
The 6-foot-4 guard out of Mobile helped Alabama advance to the Elite Eight as a freshman this past season. He started 29 of 37 games, averaging 10.6 points, 3.8 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.
Philon buried 45.2 percent of his field-goal attempts, 31.5 percent of his 3-pointers and 76.7 percent of his free throws. He had a 140/64 assists-to-turnovers ratio.
Philon scored in double figures in eight of Alabama’s final 10 regular-season games, but he is also a willing passer. That was on full display in a 90-81 win over Robert Morris that was a close game for 40 minutes in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Philon played 28 minutes against the Colonials and took only one shot from the field, but he dished out eight assists without committing a turnover.
In an 80-66 win over Saint Mary’s in the Round of 32, Philon produced six points, six rebounds, three steals, two blocked shots and five assists compared to just one turnover. He had eight points, six assists and a pair of rebounds, knocking down 2-of-3 FGAs that were all from downtown, in the Tide’s 113-88 pimpslap of BYU in the East Region semifinals.
Philon scored a team-best 16 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and three steals, helping Alabama stay close before Duke pulled away in the final eight minutes of its 85-65 win in the Elite Eight.
Oats’s team also found out Wednesday that Houston Mallette has been granted a medical redshirt from last season and can play one last year of college ball in 2025-26. He initially planned to redshirt after transferring from Pepperdine, but those plans were scrapped when guard Latrell Wrightsell went down with a season-ending injury.
Mallette played in six games, logging an average of just 7.8 minutes per game before knee issues sidelined him for the rest of the year. He averaged 3.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, hitting 58.3 percent of his FGAs and 50.0 percent of his 3-pointers.
Mallette played three seasons for the Waves, starting 90 times in 94 games. During the 2023-24 campaign, he averaged 14.7 PPG and drained 41.5 percent of his treys and 81.7 percent of his free throws.
In his updated edition of the ‘Rothstein 45,’ college basketball insider Jon Rothstein elevated Alabama from #22 to #16 after Philon announced his return.
FanDuel has the Tide with 35/1 odds to win the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Those are the 18th-shortest odds on the board that it shares with UCLA and Iowa St.