Auburn has seen three players announce their intentions to leave the basketball program, including leading scorer Mustapha Heron, who is entering the NBA Draft along with three other players.
In light of the potential changes there is great uncertainty with the roster for next season. Auburn went from having one available scholarship for next season to as many as seven, if all of the players who declared for the draft were to go pursue pro careers rather than return, though that's not expected.
There are a lot of different possibilities for what the roster could look like next season just based on who could withdraw from the draft process and return, let alone the possible additions of signees and junior college and graduate transfers.
Hare are the best-case and worst-case scenarios and a reasonable expectation for what the roster will look like next season:
Worst-case scenario
Starting with the departures of Desean Murray and Davion Mitchell and working under the assumption that all four players to declare for the draft pursue a professional career and don't return to Auburn, the Tigers will have just six scholarship players returning with no point guard.
The roster under such a premise would be Anfernee McLemore, Horace Spencer, Chuma Okeke, Danjel Purifoy, Malik Dunbar and Samir Doughty. Spencer and Dunbar would come off the bench and Auburn would need to add two point guards, likely two wing players and a big to replenish the roster in the short-term. At least two of those would likely be graduate transfers.
But, for the sake of argument, let's say this truly were the case. Would Okeke, a heralded recruit entering his sophomore season, or Purifoy, who has stated he's returning but is going to miss the first 30 percent of the season, want to stick around with such upheaval?
If there were even more defections under such a doomsday scenario, the roster could be as thin as McLemore, Spencer, Dunbar and Doughty, or worse. Auburn would need to find as many transfers as possible for a rebuild even bigger than Pearl's first year.
Of course, this isn't going to happen, but this is the most extreme and outlandish possibility.
Best-case scenario
If Austin Wiley, Jared Harper and Bryce Brown, all of whom declared for the draft but said they don't intend to sign with agents, were all to return, then Auburn's roster is not that far off from what was expected at the start of the offseason.
Wiley would start at center with either McLemore or Okeke at power forward, Purifoy or Doughty at small forward, Brown at shooting guard and Harper at point guard. Spencer, Dunbar and either Purifoy or Doughty and McLemore or Okeke would come off the bench. There's an argument to be made that those nine players would be an even better lineup that what Auburn had last season.
That's all before any signees, including the possibility of 2019 commit Babatunde Akingbola reclassifying to 2018, or transfers are added to the mix.
If you want to really see things with orange & blue glasses on, imagine if Heron, who stated his intent to sign with an agent but emphasized he had yet to do so, were to decide to return. Auburn would be loaded with essentially the roster it expected to have last season before the FBI's case against Chuck Person took out Wiley and Purifoy. Plus, the Tigers would essentially trade Murray, who brought much-needed toughness to the floor, and Mitchell for an even bigger forward in Akingbola and upgrade at point guard.
The most likely scenario(s)
Brown and Harper return, as expected, and Heron stays in the draft. The two biggest unknowns are Wiley and Akingbola.
If both bigs on the roster next season, Auburn is in a great spot to try and repeat as regular-season SEC Champs regardless of who else is added as long as one newcomer is a point guard.
If neither is on the roster, Auburn needs at least one more big, absolutely has to have a point guard to spell Harper and could use a wing.
James Crepea is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @JamesCrepea.