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A lot of so-called “Way Too Early Top 25” projections have had Auburn somewhere around the Top 10 going into the 2018-19 season, but this might change things.
Auburn star Mustapha Heron is declaring for the NBA Draft and intends to sign with an agent, he tells @247Sports | Story: https://t.co/6hVVOs7cJc pic.twitter.com/yRaNzlepl4
— Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) April 4, 2018
Mustapha Heron was Auburn’s leading scorer in 2017-18, averaging 16.4 ppg on 43.9 percent shooting from the floor. NBA teams don’t appear to be high on the 6’5” sophomore, though, as he’s not projected to be drafted in NBADraft.net’s most recent 2018 mock draft. That might have been an expectation that he’d return to school more than anything else, but most draft sites aren’t too shy about projecting players to declare if NBA teams are interested.
With the news that he’s hiring an agent, this effectively bars the door to him returning to Auburn next season. Auburn will still return 7 of its top 8 players next season assuming no further defections, and also may have Danjel Purifoy and Austin Wiley returning. But losing its leading scorer is still a blow to the Tigers.