AUBURN, Alabama — Bruce Pearl is growing more confident he might not lose a single player to the pros this offseason.

The reality is a couple of players could stay in the NBA Draft and pursue a pro career in the states or overseas. The Auburn coach understands that, but as the May 30 deadline to stay or withdraw from draft quickly approaches, the fourth-year Auburn coach believes there’s a “good chance” all four players — center Austin Wiley, and guards Mustapha Heron, Bryce Brown and Jared Harper — all return next season and attempt to win a second straight SEC championship.

“I think there’s a good chance they’re all going to consider coming back,” Pearl told reporters Monday outside his annual charity event at the Willow Point Golf Club in Alexandria, Alabama. “There’s a chance they’re all going to come back, but that’s been the case since the beginning.

“I just feel as we get closer to the deadline and they gather more and more information, I think that chance improves. It would not surprise me, still, to see a couple of them stay in.”

The two biggest threats to leave Auburn early continue to be Wiley and Heron. Heron announced in April his intention to leave Auburn and hire an agent, effectively ending his college career after two seasons and leading the Tigers with 16.4 points per game last season. Heron, however, has not hired an agent and the chances of him returning for a third season at Auburn are now “50-50,” the guard said last week.

Wiley is coming off a season on the bench in which he was forced to sit out amid an internal investigation into FBI allegation that his family received money from former assistant coach Chuck Person. Person was arrested by the FBI on six federal bribery and fraud charges during a wide-ranging national investigation into college basketball in September.

Wiley will be eligible for the entire 2018-19 season should he decide to return to Auburn.

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Wiley declared for the draft without an agent and attended the NBA Combine last weekend. Reviews were mixed and two sources at the Chicago-based workouts told Auburn Undercover he did not make a big enough splash to land in the first round of the draft.

The NBA Draft consists of two rounds and second-rounders are not guaranteed money. Many of them go to the G-league to play as rookies.

Heron, the first 5-star signee in Auburn basketball history, worked out for four teams in private drills over the last several weeks: Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers and Denver Nuggets. Brown and Harper are expected to return to Auburn next season after participating in workouts with the Atlanta Hawks.

The ebb and flow of the situations surrounding Heron and Wiley has made recruiting difficult for the Tigers, too.

“How’s recruiting going? It’s almost more about retention than it is about recruiting,” Pearl said.

The No. 1 concern is Auburn’s depth in the front court, where one injury without Wiley in the lineup next season could be debilitating. The Tigers lost a presence late last season when Anfernee McLemore injured his ankle late in the season and limped to the finish line as co-champions of the SEC.

Backup point guard Davion Mitchell and guard Desean Murray left the team following the season when it became clear playing time was difficult to obtain. Mitchell also could not overtake Harper as the starter heading into next season.

“That’s OK,” Pearl said. “We knew that so therefore we had (guard) Malik (Dunbar) and transfer Samir (Doughty) as juniors and seniors and players on the frontline who are ready to assume a greater role should Austin stay in the draft. But it’s made recruiting challenging.”