It’s hard not to look at Labaron Philon and see shades of JD Davison. They have much in common as former prep basketball stars in the state. The two quick-twitch, fun-to-watch and easy-to-like guards also played one season of college ball each for Nate Oats at Alabama.
Davison was one and done in Tuscaloosa. In the midst of testing the current NBA Draft waters, Philon has confirmed to ESPN that he, too, will turn pro after a single SEC season.
Now it’s difficult not to wonder if Davison’s winding road to the NBA may have foreshadowed the road ahead for Philon.
The Boston Celtics drafted Davison in the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft as the 53rd overall pick. He arrived at the next level needing to develop a more consistent outside shot and make consistently better decisions with the ball in his hands.
Sounds like current evaluations of the similarly streaky Philon.
It took Davison three years of two-way contracts and leaps-and-bounds improvement with the Maine Celtics of the G League, but last month, after being named the G League player of the year, Davison finally signed a standard two-year contract with the parent Celtics. It will pay him about $2.3 million, according to spotrac.com.
Brad Stevens, Boston’s president of basketball operations, praised Davison’s dedication to the grind in a press release announcing the signing.
“His hard work and team-first attitude from Day One with both the Boston and Maine Celtics have led to this achievement,” Stevens said. “JD has embraced the idea of continuously improving, and we are thrilled for him.”
Ditto for everyone in his home state who watched Davison become the fifth player in state history to win back-to-back Mr. Basketball awards, hit a Class 2A title-winning trey for Calhoun High as a junior and score 45 points in his final high school outing in a repeat trip to the championship game.
His stellar prep career earned him recognition as a McDonald’s All-American and, depending on the ranking service, a top 10 or 15 national prospect in the Class of 2021.
Philon’s high school resume looks a lot like Davison’s. At Baker High in Mobile, Philon was a two-time 7A player of the year, the state’s 2023 Mr. Basketball and a top 30 national recruit. He might’ve added a second Mr. Basketball nod had he not played his final high school season at Link Academy in Missouri.
The similarities between the two Alabama high school stars continued into their single college seasons in Tuscaloosa.
Philon started 29 of the 37 games he played last season for a Crimson Tide team that reached its second straight Elite Eight but fell short of a return trip to the Final Four. He finished fourth on the team in scoring (10.6), sixth in rebounds (3.3), second in assists (3.8) and first in steals (1.4).
He was named SEC freshman of the week three times and made the SEC All-Freshman team at season’s end.
Davison started six of the 33 games he played for the 2021-22 Alabama team that made one-and-done exits from the SEC and NCAA tournaments. He finished fourth on that team in scoring (8.5), third in rebounds (4.8), first in assists (4.3) and second in steals (1.0).
He was named SEC freshman of the week twice and also made the SEC All-Freshman team.
While both played with great pace and energy for the Tide, the 6-1, 195-pound Davison was far more viral-video explosive, especially off the bounce, than the 6-2, 175-pound Philon. It was Philon’s good fortune to play on a better Alabama team.
Now the playmaker who played alongside an all-time great Alabama scorer in Mark Sears will need more of that good fortune as he tries to put himself in the most favorable position heading into the June 25-26 draft. There is no consensus at the moment among the many mock drafts about Philon’s likely landing spot. ESPN’s latest mock has Brooklyn selecting him in the second round at No. 36 overall, one spot ahead of Auburn’s Johni Broome and three spots earlier than Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford.
Pettiford has yet to announce whether he’ll stay in the draft or return to the Jungle for one more college season.
It appears Philon has closed the college door behind him to embark on his pro career, as Davison did three years ago. It’s worth noting that, since getting drafted in the second round, Davison has appeared in a mere 36 regular-season games and two playoff games with the Boston Celtics over his three-year pro career.
To his credit, he’s used his G League experience to enhance his skills and prove himself worthy of a standard NBA contract. He’s also provided a role model for Philon on how to handle whatever comes his way during the draft and beyond.
Maybe one day we’ll see two of the better high school players in state history go head-to-head in the NBA playoffs. What’s more certain is we’ll always wonder what might have been had they stayed in college at least one more year.
