Auburn basketball rumors: Xavier Pinson’s brother wants him on the Plains

The 2020-21 season was a difficult one to endure on the Plains for fans of Auburn basketball, but brighter days are ahead if things go as they appear they possibly could in the transfer portal.

So far, the Tigers have been linked to Texas Tech’s former five-star recruit freshman Nimari Burnett and UNC’s Walker Kessler in the portal, and landing either Power 5 recruit would add firepower to a squad that has already lost Justin Powell and Jamal Johnson to the portal and Shairfe Cooper and JT Thor to the NBA pre-draft process.

The Tigers not only been linked to recruits in an effort to build up a roster suddenly low on blue-chip prospects. They added Zep Jasper from the College of Charleston last week and had already signed Jabari Smith and Trey Alexander as class of 2021 recruits.

Now, it appears that a major recent name to hit the portal, Xavier Pinson, is also strongly considering joining Bruce Pearl’s squad for what should be a major bounce-back year for the team.

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dave Matter pointed out, not seeing eye to eye with the coaching staff–and an abysmal final game with Mizzou–prompted Pinson to call it a career in Columbia:

"Pinson started every game for the Tigers this past season, took more shots than any player on the team and until late in the year was MU’s top scorer. But discord between the junior point guard and MU’s coaches simmered through the second half of the season, up until the point Cuonzo Martin benched Pinson for the final stretch of Saturday’s season-ending loss to Oklahoma in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.Martin later explained that senior point guard Drew Buggs was better executing the offense and was playing better defense. Pinson scored just two points in a season-low 18 minutes and struggled guarding OU’s perimeter players."

Now, it appears that Auburn basketball could a frontrunner to sign the six-foot-two guard…if he values his family’s opinion at least.

His older brother first responded on Twitter to Jake “Jboy” Crain, who noted that sending players to the NBA is the best pitch to recruits (he was referring to Sharife Cooper’s likely NBA declaration) by agreeing:

Finally, he responded to another fan that warned not to toy with Tiger fans explicitly stating interest in Auburn basketball for his brother:

Fly War Eagle will keep you updated on all things Pinson-in-the-portal.