Could John Egbunu contribute down the road in Brooklyn?

John Egbunu won’t be on the Brooklyn Nets roster opening night, but he’ll likely remain part of the organization. What does he bring to the table?

The Brooklyn Nets entered training camp with a maximum of 20 players on its training camp roster but have to get this number down to 17 by opening night: Oct. 23 at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The 17 includes 15 on the regular roster and up to two on two-way contracts. Two-way deals allow players to play in the G League, but freely move to the parent NBA team for up to 45 days in the regular season.

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Each NBA team is permitted two two-way deals and Brooklyn has already signed Henry Ellenson to one. With Deng Adel and John Egbunu being put on waivers, the second two-way will likely be handed to C.J. Williams.

Lance Thomas would have been another candidate, but teams can only give two-ways to players in their fourth NBA season or earlier (Thomas has played eight seasons).

Thomas could stay in the organization through the G League, however, and the same can be said for Adel and Egbunu. Despite being waived, Brooklyn maintains the G League rights for both players and they are expected to join the Long Island Nets (G League affiliate) for training camp in the near future.

I touched on Adel earlier, but it’s worth considering what Egbunu might offer down the road as well. There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding him, but his upside as an interior defender could make him useful down the road. With Jarrett Allen and DeAndre Jordan as really the team’s only centers — Nicolas Claxton is more of a power forward — Egbunu could prove useful if he develops.

The 6-foot-11 Egbunu played three college seasons, including one at South Florida, before sitting out a season and transferring to Florida for his sophomore and junior years.  An ACL tear derailed the 24-year-old’s college career; he tore it midway through the 2016-17 season and was unable to return from the injury the following 2017-18 season.

Rather than returning for another year, Egbunu instead decided to pursue a professional career.

The forward flashed strong defense and athleticism at Florida, but he hasn’t played organized basketball since 2017 and it’s not clear how much the injuries have taken a toll. It’s encouraging, however, that the Nets brought him into training camp. There must be some reason for optimism.

When healthy, Egbunu has decent mobility for someone of his 6-foot-11 stature, giving him some of the necessary defensive versatility in the modern NBA. Offensively, Egbunu profiles as a Jordan-like offensive player that almost exclusively shoots in the paint (58.5 percent of shots at the rim in 2016-17).

He didn’t flash any long-range shooting ability over his college career (1-of-2 overall from 3-point range).

Although he only shot 54.5 percent over his college career, Egbunu demonstrated the ability to get to the line, ranking first and third in the SEC in free throw rate in 2013-14 and 2015-16 respectively (per KenPom).

As Jordan (age 31) continues to age, the franchise will eventually need to provide Allen additional support on the interior. It’s very uncertain at this point, but perhaps Egbunu could become part of the solution down the road.