With the end of Auburn basketball’s season arriving sooner than expected, it’s time for Bruce Pearl and his coaching staff to turn their attention to the roster for next season. The Tigers are almost certainly going to lose SEC Freshman of the Year Jabari Smith to the NBA, and big man Walker Kessler is likely to follow.
Luckily for the Tigers, chaos and disarray in the LSU basketball program following the firing of head coach Will Wade mean that there are several top prospects de-committing from the program that Pearl and Co. can target for next season.
One of those prospects is 5-star power forward/center Yohan Traore, who stands at six-foot ten inches and is ranked as the #15 prospect in the recruiting class of 2022. Traore committed to LSU in January earlier this year but announced today on Twitter that he would be re-opening his recruitment.
🙏🏾🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/8bEhQCrtZh
— Yohan Traore (@traore_yohan) March 22, 2022
The Tigers will immediately double down on their recruitment of Traore, who would be an ideal replacement for Walker Kessler in the case that he declares for the 2022 NBA Draft. Of course, the coaching staff will go after the recruit but also showing love to the PF/C is none other than current Tiger Zep Jasper:
The recruiting effort is on for 5-star PF/C Yohan Traore:
— Christian Clemente (@CClemente247) March 22, 2022
Zep Jasper tells Auburn fans to go show him love in the comments
Traore responds: “😂😂👀” pic.twitter.com/gm1lEjlkjc
Two other highly-ranked prospects de-committed from the Bayou Bengals as well in 5-star power forward Julian Phillips (class of 2022) and 5-star shooting guard Marvel Allen (class of 2023). According to Auburn Undercover, the Tigers are likely to pursue these recruits, as well.
Auburn basketball currently has two commits in the class of 2022 in 4-star shooting guard Chance Westry and 3-star point guard Tre Donaldson.