{"id":824337,"date":"2026-07-25T02:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T02:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/824337\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T02:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T02:06:14","slug":"labaron-philons-rookie-season-has-become-far-more-interesting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/824337\/","title":{"rendered":"Labaron Philon\u2019s Rookie Season Has Become far More Interesting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"61\">Selected at No. 22 overall in the 2026 NBA Draft, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/draft\/newsfeed\/nba-draft-scouting-report-alabama-guard-labaron-philon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">guard Labaron Philon\u2019s<\/a> season was already set to be an interesting one.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"64\">Philon was one of the top sliders at the \u201926 draft, formerly thought of to be in the top tier of guards, he ended up sliding all the way to the end of the first round. Philadelphia eventually ended his fall, banking on one of the top available talents.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"67\">Now, Philon is apart of one of the most interesting rosters in the entire league, led by Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, VJ Edgecombe and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/76ers\/onsi\/how-lebron-james-catapults-the-sixers-into-championship-contention-01kyba6k8598\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">new additions in Jaylen Brown and LeBron James<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6a\">Brown was acquired in one of the blockbuster deals of the offseason, sent by Boston in exchange for Paul George and draft capital. James shocked the world by signing a two-year deal with Philadelphia worth $8 million, creating a super-squad looking to win the East.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">Overnight, the Sixers have become a legitimate contender, armed with several stars and a host of talented role players. One of those is Philon, who they\u2019re hoping can hit the ground running in the second unit.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">At 6-foot-3, Philon was one of the premier guards in the class due to his handling and shot-making alone. He can pressure the rim, score in the mid-range and pull up from three, functioning in the pick-and-roll at a high level. He massively boosted his stock as a sophomore with the Tide, blossoming his counting stats and efficiency across the board.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">From the starting unit, players like Maxey, Brown, James and Embiid will be able to carry the scoring load, likely spreading that across the secondary rotation as well. Still, alongside players like Dean Wade, Anfernee Simons, Adem Bona and potentially even a few more unsigned veteran players, Philon will be looked at as a crucial scoring piece.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">It&#8217;s not often players are able to make a massive positive impact in their rookie season, though Edgecombe was able to set a sollid blueprint of production in his first season in red, white and blue. Philon doesn&#8217;t possess the same all-around ability to athleticism, but could still plug-in with raw scoring and passing ability.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">Philon&#8217;s being able to make an impact won&#8217;t be make-or-break for the 76ers now with James and Brown added, though it would be a boon to a rotation looking to carry slack for what is now a real contender.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6s\">If Summer League was any indication \u2014 where Philon averaged 18.5 points and 5.8 assists per game \u2014 Philon could be ready to add his offensive punch from the word go. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Selected at No. 22 overall in the 2026 NBA Draft, guard Labaron Philon\u2019s season was already set to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-824337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}