Auburn's Green Jr. to forego senior year and enter 2023 NBA Draft

After two seasons at Auburn, point guard Wendell Green Jr. announced Sunday afternoon he will be leaving the Tigers and pursuing the 2023 NBA Draft.

Those who enter the NBA Draft have until May 31 to pull their name out of the draft and return to college. However, Green Jr. said in his social media post "I would like to announce that I will be starting my professional career and declaring for the 2023 NBA Draft."

Green Jr. is fresh off a second-team All-SEC season where he averaged 13.7 points and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 36.4% from the field. The 5-foot-11 point guard started every game for the Tigers during the 2022-23 season and scored 20 or more points seven different times.

Green Jr. transferred to Auburn after spending one season at Eastern Kentucky. In the point guard's first season with Auburn, Green Jr. was the team's third-leading scorer at 12 points per game and also recorded the most assists on the team with 172 as the Tigers won the SEC Regular Season Championship and went to the NCAA Tournament as a two seed.

Auburn will likely look to incoming point guard Aden Holloway and returning point guard Tre Donaldson to take over the ball handling duties.

Holloway signed with Auburn in November and recently played in the 2023 McDonald's All-American Game, an exhibition that includes some of the best high school basketball players in the country. Holloway recorded 15 points in the game.

While Donaldson played a limited role in the 2022-23 season, the freshman stepped up in the NCAA Tournament, scoring 17 points between Auburn's two games and shooting five-for-five from the three-point line.

Green Jr. becomes the second Auburn player to announce his departure from the team. Freshman Yohan Traore announced he was entering the transfer portal last Tuesday.