Johni Broome’s big weekend at the NBA G League Elite camp proved to be a double-edged sword for Auburn and Bruce Pearl.

Pearl and his staff were naturally excited to see Broome flourish over the weekend and earn himself an invite to this week’s NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. However, the sudden rise in Broome’s draft stock could leave Auburn in a difficult spot should be remain in the NBA Draft.

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“We’re rooting for Johni on one hand,” Pearl said Monday in Alexander City before teeing off at his annual Fore the Kids gold tournament. “On the other hand, we’d obviously love to have him back because he could be one of the best players (in the) preseason in college basketball next season.”

Broome, an All-SEC center last season, declared for the NBA Draft last month but announced plans to retain his college eligibility. The expectation was that he’d go through the pre-draft process, get evaluated and return to Auburn for another season. Those plans could be shifting, though, following his breakout performance at the G League Elite camp over the weekend.

The 6-foot-10 big averaged 20 points, six rebounds and two blocks per game across two games at the G League scouting event. He was the most dominant big man on the floor throughout the weekend, finishing with 40 total points on 16-of-25 shooting—including 2-of-5 from 3-point range—while pulling down a dozen rebounds, blocking four shots and dishing out three assists. He made it to the free-throw line 11 total times across those two games, going 6-of-10 in his first appearance and missing his lone attempt in his second outing.

“He did great,” Pearl said. “Our feelings have always sort of been, ‘Can you get yourself into that first round?’ If you can get yourself into that first round, you need to go. It’s hard to climb out of the second round. Guys that go second round, they’re not the general manager’s first pick, they do the two-way contract, they spend most of their time in the G League.”

Broome’s performance over the weekend was enough to earn him a call-up to this week’s NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. He was one of eight from the G League Elite camp to advance to the next step in the pre-draft process, as 86 total players are set to participate in the NBA scouting event, which begins Tuesday and wraps up Thursday.

Whether Broome can continue to climb up draft boards this week remains to be seen. It certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but it won’t be an easy task for the former Morehead State transfer. As Pearl noted Monday, seven players earned NBA Draft Combine invites from last year’s G League Elite camp, and none of them were selected in the NBA Draft, which has just two rounds of picks.

Broome has until May 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET to withdraw from the draft and return to school while maintaining his eligibility. Should Broome continue his upward trend this week, it could leave Auburn in the market for another big man in the transfer portal; the Tigers are expected to return just one other scholarship center in Dylan Cardwell, who declared for the draft and retained his eligibility but has yet to officially withdraw, while the other potential option at center if Broome leaves is Jaylin Williams. The Tigers’ starting four-man also declared for the draft while retaining eligibility, and while he’s expected back, he has not officially withdrawn from the draft yet.

“It’s really, really hard to make that jump (from the G League Elite camp to the NBA Draft) because there are so many guys that get invited to the combine that aren’t going to get drafted, right?” Pearl said. “But Johni definitely helped himself and clearly does the things that he does. He’s able to score, he played physically, he has high basketball IQ. And the things he needs to continue to work on: his defense, his rim protection, rebounding out of his area, that’ll be — we’ll see that.

“Again, the level of competition at the (NBA Draft) Combine will be higher than the G League combine.”

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