After asking out of Kansas basketball pledge, 4-star Labaron Philon picks new school

Labaron Philon, a 6-foot-4, 175-pound senior point guard from Link Academy in Branson, Missouri, who asked out of his national letter-of-intent to Kansas on Tuesday, five days later has announced plans to transfer to Alabama.

Philon, a native of Mobile, Alabama, initially chose KU over Alabama, Cincinnati and Mississippi. He is ranked No. 27 in the recruiting class of 2024 by 247Sports.com, No. 35 by ESPN.com and No. 37 by Rivals.com.

He committed to Auburn on Feb. 3, 2023, then reopened his recruitment on April 21, 2023. He committed to KU on Sept. 25, 2023.

Philon averaged 35.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.6 steals a game as a junior at Baker High in Mobile. He hit 52% of his shots, including 34% of his 3s and 82% of his free throws. He had 51 points in one game.

As a senior at Link, Philon averaged 14.0 points while playing in two games at the season-ending Chipotle Nationals in Brownsburg, Indiana. He averaged 11.7 points and 4.3 assists in 12 games on the EYBL Scholastic circuit, shooting better than 44% from 3-point range.

According to 247Sports.com, Philon was released from his KU letter on Friday, then headed to Alabama’s campus for an official visit.

“Alabama and Philon make for a great pairing with his ability to get up and down the court, score, create for others and be an impactful defender,” wrote Travis Branham of 247sports.com. “Philon thrives playing on instincts, and in Oats’ high octane offense, Philon should grow into having a big role for the Crimson Tide in the years ahead. For Oats, it’s another feather in his cap coming off a Final Four run and continuing his hot streak on the recruiting trail.”

Of Alabama, Philon told On3.com prior to his committing to KU last fall: “Bama is one of my top choices because coach (Nate) Oats and his staff have been doing a great job recruiting me. Those guys at Bama run a good system, just playing, moving the ball and just having a great tool for guards to be able to do what they do and play their game. That’s one of the biggest reasons why Bama is one of my top choices. Because I think they have an NBA style system there. Their plan (for me) is just great.”