What Auburn basketball's roster could look like next season, where Tigers can still improve
AUBURN — Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl's team is in a state of flux. There's no denying that.
Of the 12 scholarship players on the roster last season, just three − Tre Donaldson, KD Johnson and Chris Moore − look like locks to return for another go-around with the Tigers. Allen Flanigan's status is up in the air, Zep Jasper has run out of eligibility and Babatunde Akingbola, Yohan Traore (UC Santa Barbara) and Chance Westry (Syracuse) have entered the transfer portal.
Johni Broome, Dylan Cardwell, Wendell Green Jr. and Jaylin Williams have all entered the 2023 NBA Draft process as early entry candidates, too. The deadline to withdraw their names from the draft pool is May 31. Broome and Williams left the door open for a return to Auburn via their announcements on social media. Cardwell never made an announcement, and Green didn't mention whether or not he was maintaining his eligibility.
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Pearl has dipped into the portal twice already this offseason, adding Alabama-Hunstville's Chaney Johnson and Florida International's Denver Jones, who scored 20.1 points per game for the Golden Panthers last season.
With the potential for a few of the draft declarations to come back, Pearl said April 25 he expects to add "at least one, maybe two" more transfers this offseason to round out the team. Here's a position-by-position breakdown of what Auburn's roster could look next season, and an analysis of where Pearl should spend his remaining scholarships.
Point guard
With Green potentially going pro, the Tigers are bringing in five-star recruit Aden Holloway out of Prolific Prep in Napa, California. He's rated by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 18 recruit in the country, and will be sharing time at the lead guard spot with Donaldson, who returns after appearing in 32 games for the Tigers last season.
Shooting guard
The backcourt seems to be done, as Jones and KD Johnson are poised to see the majority of minutes at shooting guard. Jones is the logical choice to start, considering his production from a season ago, and Johnson is likely to come off the bench in relief, just as he did for Jasper in the 2022-23 season.
Small forward
This is where things get interesting. Flanigan, who is expected to soon graduate and weigh his future options, may opt to leave. That seems more likely than not; his father, Wes Flanigan, an assistant on Pearl's staff since 2018, left to join Chris Beard at Ole Miss in April.
If Flanigan does move on, that opens the door for the Tigers to reload on the wing. Moore and Lior Berman are expected to be back, but adding at least one starting-caliber small forward is a must. It'd also be ideal for the incoming transfer to have some height, as Holloway (6-foot-1), Donaldson (6-3), Jones (6-4) and KD Johnson (6-foot) are all under 6-5.
Power forward
Listed at 6-7, Pearl expects Chaney Johnson to compete for minutes at either forward position. He's the rational option to come off the bench at the 4 if Williams returns, but adding a true power forward in a reserve role should be a priority. The Tigers were a middle-of-the-SEC-pack team in rebounding last season and, aside from Broome, Flanigan was the only other player to average at least five boards per game.
Center
Pearl said he'd be surprised if Auburn used all 13 of its scholarships next season, mentioning how he may elect to give a scholarship to a walk-on instead; Berman would be the leading candidate to receive that. But if Pearl changes course, bringing in a reserve center would be ideal.
Assuming Broome returns, the Tigers would still only have one true center on the roster in Dylan Cardwell. Auburn was burned by its lack of size and big-man depth at times last season, and having a big body on the bench capable of playing in a pinch would help stop that from happening again.
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball: What Tigers roster may look like in 2023-24
