Is Labaron Philon Open to Returning to Alabama?

Alabama men's basketball guard Labaron Philon declared for the NBA draft following a strong freshman season with the Crimson Tide, where he started 29 games for the Tide, averaging 10.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the floor and 31.5 percent from three-point range.

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However, the Tide's freshman guard says he is "100%" committed to the NBA draft, but would he be open to a return to Tuscaloosa if his draft plans don't play out exactly the way he is hoping?

Philon declared for the NBA draft earlier this month, posting a farewell to the Crimson Tide faithful on his Instagram.

Philon was asked by the SchuZ Show, published on Tuesday, about whether he could return to school.

"I would say 100% draft, but things can change," Philon said. "You never know. I would say I love 'Bama - just the whole program, the school, the state. It was all love when I was playing there. I didn't never receive any hatred or nothing like that. Walking around school and being a regular kid again was mostly the most fun part for me, and I'll never take that for granted."

"I'm all in on the draft right now, because I feel like I want to be a pro. You never know what can happen. We'll just have to wait and see."

Philon has until May 28 to withdraw from the draft and return to school if he goes through the process without an agent or if he hires an NCAA-certified agent.

Philon, also, would have had to maintain his NCAA eligibility if he wanted to return to school. Did he? Philon gave a workaround answer.

"I would say, yeah, kinda," he said. "But, I'm 100% on the draft."

Philon was ranked as the No. 47 overall player in the NBA draft according to ESPN.

With college players able to sign NIL deals, some players see it as worthwhile to return to school and sign big NIL contracts to supplement an NBA salary. Could an NIL deal persuade Philon to return to college?

"I would say, it's not about the NIL or the money, just for me," he said. "It's about do you want to go back and play for that school, and do you want to chase your dream and play with the big guys?

"But if I'm looking at it from someone else's shoes, I would say -- yeah, say if they fall [in the draft] somewhere where they think they're not gonna succeed or you get injured while going through the process or you don't like the feedback you get and you want to go back, now that's a thing where you have to discuss with the people around you and the program you want to choose.

"But, yeah, that's definitely like a conversation you would have to sit down and go over before you just hop in it."

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.