Evan Fournier, A Member of Knicks, Got No Ties to Tom Thibodeau & Eager to Leave Team
Evan Fournier, A Member of Knicks, Got No Ties to Tom Thibodeau & Eager to Leave Team
You would be forgiven for forgetting that Evan Fournier still plays for the New York Knicks. After the first month of the 2022-23 season, he saw very limited playing time for the Knicks, and he didn’t see any postseason action at all.
Since Fournier had been a starter for the previous nine seasons, including the 2021-22 season with the Knicks, this was a significant adjustment.
Fournier is now a member of the Knicks, although he is eager to leave the team. Frenchman Fournier gave an honest and frank interview to L’Equipe about his miserable year in the Big Apple.
After starting and playing significant minutes during the first month of the season, Fournier was demoted to the bench, and he claims that head coach Tom Thibodeau did a terrible job of explaining why.
When the transfer became permanent, he apparently never explained the decision to Fournier.
“When he took me out of the five, he just told me he was going to try something else,” Fournier said to L’Equipe via basketnews.com. “Then, at the very first game of a road trip, he told me that I was leaving the rotation, and ciao,” the player recalled.
For understandable reasons, Fournier remained silent when asked about his friendship with Thibodeau.
Regarding his feelings for Thibodeau, Fournier stated, “I have nothing to say because I have none.”
What will the future bring?
When asked about his future with the Knicks, Fournier stated he anticipates being dealt because that’s the only option for New York. He signed a four-year, $73 million contract with the Knicks in 2021, the final guaranteed year of which pays him $18.9 million.
I find it highly unlikely that I will be a Knick next season. “Even though they’re willing to pay me $18 million, they have no intention of keeping me on board,” he claimed.
Why didn’t you use me if you wanted to swap me for something valuable? I had just finished a season in which I had been the league’s fourth-best 3-point shooter.
Take advantage of it, why don’t you! What Fournier said. To paraphrase, “Now they won’t get anything interesting and that’s normal because I couldn’t show anything [on the court].”
Since the Knicks don’t appear to have any intentions to reintroduce him to the starting five, Fournier has stated that he can only continue playing if he is traded.
It’s inevitable that I’ll be swapped out for something else. Otherwise, both I and them would be in a bind. Several key players are signing massive contracts with the team. Unless they’re willing to pay an obscene tax on opulence…
The future of my basketball career would be doomed if I stayed, Fournier said frankly. I’m good with going a whole year without playing. Two of those… oh, no!
Since the interview was for a French newspaper, Fournier was naturally probed regarding whether or not he would like to join fellow Frenchman Victor Wembanyama on the San Antonio Spurs. Fournier did not definitively rule out the notion, but he did not dismiss it, either.
“I need a place where I can go and just have a good time again. Would I be better suited to their style of play? It’s not the Spurs team of 2014, but he still thinks playing under Popovich and picking his brain “would be a pleasure and an honor.”
“After that, it’d be great to be with Victor and start connecting on the court in anticipation of the [upcoming Paris] Olympics.”
