Evan Fournier: 'I would be very surprised to be a Knick next year'
Fournier still has a guaranteed year left in his contract, set to earn $18.8 million per season. After the 2023-24 season, the Knicks hold a team option in the deal. “I would be very surprised to be a Knick next year. They pay me 18 million, they have no interest in keeping me,” he said. “If you want to trade me with a good return, why didn’t you use me? I was coming out of a season where I was the fourth-best 3-point shooter in the league. Why not take advantage of it?” Fournier told. “Now they won’t get anything interesting and that’s normal because I couldn’t show anything [on the court].”
Source: BasketNews
Source: BasketNews
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Evan Fournier played in just 27 games for the Knicks last year. He didn’t play a minute in the playoffs. His rapport with coach Thibodeau? None, he says.
Fournier opened up about the last season and openly criticized both the Knicks and Thibodeau 🧐 basketnews.com/news-192208-fo… – 7:44 AM
Evan Fournier played in just 27 games for the Knicks last year. He didn’t play a minute in the playoffs. His rapport with coach Thibodeau? None, he says.
Fournier opened up about the last season and openly criticized both the Knicks and Thibodeau 🧐 basketnews.com/news-192208-fo… – 7:44 AM
More on this storyline
If Fournier continued his career with the Knicks, his basketball career would be in serious jeopardy, he says. “I would be shot. I’m going to be traded, it’s not possible otherwise. Or I’d be stuck, and so would they. They have several players with big contracts coming in. Unless they want to pay a crazy luxury tax… If I stayed, it would be a disaster basketball-wise for my career,” Fournier was blunt. “I can manage a year without playing. Two… that would be terrible.” -via BasketNews / July 18, 2023
In an interview with Yann Ohnona from L’Equipe, Fournier told that he even played a mental image in his head to help him cope with the fact that he’s not getting on the court anymore despite having a contract with the team. “Do you know Dragon Ball Z? When the hero Goku finds himself on planet Namek, injured, in a regeneration capsule? I had this image in my head all year, every practice,” Fournier said. “I practiced like it was off-season, the player told. “I ran a lot, I tried to progress. I’ve never been so strong. But that doesn’t necessarily transfer to your feelings and your game. I need to find my rhythm playing one-on-one, [then against the] opposition. When I realized that I was no longer going to play, I radically changed my way of working.” -via BasketNews / July 18, 2023
“There was this time against Philadelphia, on February 6. Jalen Brunson was injured, RJ Barrett arrived in the locker room sweating, told me that he was going to vomit, that he was not in shape. I’m like, ‘Oh f…k, I’m going to play’. I hadn’t done the team warm-up. The game was on ESPN, I wasn’t [feeling] well. It ended well but it wasn’t easy to manage,” Fournier laughed. At first, the French guard wanted to lash out at everyone. Later on, he realized that there was nothing he could do. “You want to spit on everyone. You have hatred. Derrick Rose and I looked at each other and said to each other: ‘What the hell are we doing here?’ During the five-on-five practice, we were on the side like some prospects. Uncool times. And when I realized that wouldn’t change, I took things more slowly,” he said. -via BasketNews / July 18, 2023