Mustapha Heron Reportedly Withdraws from NBA Draft, Will Transfer from Auburn

Auburn Tigers guard Mustapha Heron will reportedly withdraw from the 2018 NBA draft and transfer to another school, according to Adam Zagoria of the New York Times.

Heron's father, Bryan Heron, told Zagoria his son is transferring to be closer to his mother, who is recovering from a "massive concussion."

"What people don't know is Mustapha's mom has been sick for a year," Bryan Heron said. "Being home, he wants to get closer to his mom. He knew he had to go back to school. The last month he's been here and he wants to be close to his mom, where she can see him play."

Bryan Heron added that Mustapha will apply for a hardship waiver in hopes of being eligible to play in 2018-19.

Heron's mother lives in New Haven, Connecticut.

Heron was Auburn's leading scorer last season as a sophomore with 16.4 points per game to go along with 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals.

The Waterbury, Connecticut, native helped lead Auburn to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002-03, and the Tigers also won their first regular-season SEC title (shared with Tennessee) since 1999.

Head coach Bruce Pearl is still waiting to see if Bryce Brown and Jared Harper will return to school, but he got some good news Tuesday, as forward Austin Wiley told ESPN's Jeff Goodman he will withdraw from June 21's draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and go back to Auburn.

If Heron transfers and both Brown and Harper remain in the draft pool, though, the Tigers will lose each of their four leading scorers from the 2017-18 campaign, as Desean Murray is also set to transfer.

That would put the likes of Chuma Okeke and Anfernee McLemore in featured spots, and it would place even greater expectations on the shoulders of Wiley and Danjel Purifoy, who were both ineligible in 2017-18.

Former VCU guard Samir Doughty will also be eligible to play for the Tigers during the upcoming season.

Heron's return to the college ranks comes on the heels of tepid predraft interest, as he was not invited to the NBA combine in Chicago earlier this month.

The team that lands Heron will get a player who was second-team All-SEC last season, an SEC All-Freshman team member in 2016-17 and a 5-star recruit entering college, according to 247Sports.