By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
After climbing up to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, John Egbunu was released from his contract with LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne midway through the 2023-24 season.
Egbunu, 29, reached an agreement to terminate his contract with the French club, the team announced on Tuesday.
The Nigerian center inked a one-year contract during the offseason. Carrying the experience of three appearances in the Basketball Champions League as a member of Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem and ten games played in the FIBA Europe Cup with Gaziantep, the upgrade to the EuroLeague translated into being featured in 19 games by ASVEL. He averaged 2.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per contest in Europe’s premier club continental competition.
At the domestic level, he registered 2.9 points and 2.7 rebounds per game over 15 appearances in France’s Betclic Elite. Alongside his teammates, Egbunu went through multiple head-coaching adjustments with the team located in a suburb of Lyon, combining with a joint-low 4-17 tally in the EuroLeague and a third-placed 13-5 record in the top-flight division of France.
Playing college basketball, his NCAA experience was split between Florida from 2015 to 2018 and South Florida in his freshman 2013-14 season. Going undrafted in 2019 and settling in the G League for the 2019-20 season, he joined the Long Islands Nets. In 2020-21, he was welcomed by KT Sonicboom in the Korean Basketball League, KBL. His career quickly focused in Europe from Openjobmetis Varese to Hapoel Jerusalem and Gaziantep, before landing in ASVEL.
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net