Jahlil Okafor and the Nets are in perfect spots to help each other

Jahlil Okafor needed to go to a basketball playground like Brooklyn. The third-year former lottery pick has finally been traded by the Philadelphia 76ers, and now he’s off to the concrete jungle where dreams are made of. That’s what the Nets should represent to him, anyway.

Brooklyn didn’t give up much to acquire Okafor — just Trevor Booker, in exchange for Okafor, Nik Stauskas, and a second-round pick from the Knicks that will likely end up in the early 40s.

There’s no guarantee that Okafor works out, but there’s a chance that he might. Given that Brooklyn still doesn’t own its first-round draft pick next year, long shots like this are their best guess at manufacturing talented players.

We knew what type of player Okafor was in Philadelphia: an elite inside scorer, especially out of the post, who did virtually nothing else. He didn’t play defense, and he didn’t space the floor. His court vision was poor.

Of course, there was a reason he went with the third overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. He’s nearly 7’ tall with a 7’5 wingspan, and that length allowed him to average about 1.5 blocks per 36 minutes in his first two seasons. He has shot 68 percent within 3 feet of the basket during his short NBA career, and in college, he shot 79 percent around the rim on non-post-up opportunities.

Still, that Okafor wasn’t nearly quick enough on his feet to withstand the defensive demands. His passing went away, too, and too often he was a black hole that bogged down the offense.

Those qualities must change.

Okafor has lost weight and is on a “mostly vegan” diet, which might help him. He will probably extend his jumper to three-point range — he has shot 27 percent in his career from 16 to 23 feet — since Brooklyn even has Timofey Mozgov shooting threes.

Brooklyn doesn’t own its first-round pick this season yet again, so cultivating talent anywhere it can find it is crucial. That was also the logic in trading for D’Angelo Russell, who went one pick before Okafor in the 2015 NBA Draft.

Perhaps Okafor could be turned into a legitimate NBA player with some patience and hard work. With a corner three-pointer and nimbler feet, there’s room for Okafor to become a dangerous rim roller who can occasionally get buckets in isolation. He’ll almost certainly never be a star, but he doesn’t have to be to become a success story for Brooklyn and himself.

Let’s hope he can do it. The entire NBA is rooting for him.