Another roster spot has opened up for Auburn basketball heading into the 2023-24 season.

Senior big man Babatunde “Stretch” Akingbola announced Thursday evening that he plans to graduate from Auburn this summer before entering the transfer portal as a grad student for his final year of eligibility. Akingbola, who spent the last four seasons with the Tigers, will take advantage of the bonus year granted to athletes due to the pandemic.

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“First of all, I want to thank God for everything he has done within these last couple years at Auburn,” Akingbola wrote in his announcement on social media. “I’ve grown as a man and I’ve built a family here at Auburn. I want to thank coach Bruce Pearl and the staff for giving me an opportunity that I will never forget. Lastly to the fans and family at Auburn, my time here has been nothing but filled with love and joy from my Auburn family, and I will never take that for granted and I will forever be an Auburn Tiger.

“With that being said, I will be graduating this summer and entering my name in the transfer portal to finish my last year of eligibility. I’m looking forward to what the future has in store for me.”

Akingbola signed with Auburn as part of its top-20 ranked 2019 recruiting class, which also included — among others — fellow seniors Allen Flanigan and Jaylin Williams, as well as NBA lottery pick Isaac Okoro, who like Akingbola came to the Plains from McEachern High in Powder Springs, Ga. A former three-star recruit, Akingbola was the 260th-ranked player overall in the 2019 class.

In his four seasons at Auburn, Akingbola appeared in 50 games as a reserve. Most of his production came as a sophomore during the 2020-21 season, when he played in 27 games and averaged nearly 11 minutes off the bench. Most of the rest of his career was spent as an end-of-bench reserve and scout team contributor for Bruce Pearl’s team. For his career, Akingbola averaged 1.1 points and 1.6 rebounds per game, while his numbers per 40 minutes on the court translated to 6.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.8 blocks.

He also served as a member of the SEC Basketball Leadership Council the last two seasons.

Akingbola is the latest domino to fall for Auburn in terms of roster management this offseason, and he’s the fifth player to depart the program from a team that went 21-13 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Starting two-guard Zep Jasper exhausted his eligibility, while starting point guard Wendell Green Jr. entered the NBA Draft, and freshmen Yohan Traore and Chance Westry both entered the transfer portal. Akingbola’s fellow seniors, Flanigan and Williams, also have a COVID year of eligibility at their disposal but have yet to announce their plans one way or another.

With Akingbola on his way out and looking to make the most of his final year of eligibility elsewhere, Auburn is set to have eight scholarship players on roster for 2023-24, including (for now, at least) Flanigan and Williams. That leaves Auburn with five open scholarship spots to fill as Pearl aims to retool the roster for another NCAA Tournament run.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.