The New York Knicks got back to the playoffs in 2023 despite one of their highest-paid players, Evan Fournier, being a net zero in the games that truly mattered. Team president Leon Rose made up for his poor decision to shell out a huge contract to Fournier by revitalizing the team's depth, leading to Fournier being deep on the bench as New York won its first playoff series in a decade.

The Knicks have spent roughly a year dangling Fournier as a trade chip and are still looking to move on from the disgruntled sharpshooter. After being third on the team in minutes in the 2021-22 season, Fournier was 12th last season, playing not even a single second in the playoffs.

Evan Fournier discussed his frustrations with the Knicks with Yann Ohnona of the French sports news outlet L'Equipe. He said that he has no relationship with Tom Thibodeau after the head coach removed him from the rotation, according to an English translation from BasketNews.

“I have nothing to say because I have none,” Fournier said of his relationship with the Knicks' head coach, via BasketNews.“When he took me out of the five, he just told me he was going to try something else. Then at the first match of a road trip, he announced to me that I was leaving the rotation, and ciao.”

Being booted from the Knicks' rotation frustrated Fournier immensely. He and Derrick Rose used to be two of their key players and the transition to the bench was not an easy one. Rose's $15.6 million team option was declined and he signed a two-year deal with the Memphis Grizzlies worth $6.5 million while Fournier, for the time being, remains in New York.

“You want to spit on everyone. You have hatred,” Fournier said, via BasketNews. “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. I focused on myself and didn't let the rest get to me anymore. I did three cardio sessions, two weight training sessions per week, a lot of travel work, [analyzing] game situations with an assistant coach Daniel Brady.”

Last season was the first since 2014-15 in which Fournier didn’t play 20 minutes per game. His 27 games are the lowest he has ever played in a season in his 11-year career. Without that consistency and with the frustration of being out of the rotation, he posted awful shooting splits of 33.7 percent from the field and 30.7 percent from deep.

Being woefully inconsistent fed into the Knicks' decision to keep him out of the rotation, as did the 39-48 record he had in his games in New York before being benched. That record is, of course, not entirely his fault but New York did see a stark turnaround in their success after benching him, much of which was thanks to more playing time for Quentin Grimes (who took his starting spot) and the additions of Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart.

The Knicks, it should be noted, did this to themselves by offering Fournier a contract worth up to $73 million over four seasons during the 2021 offseason. Searching for a spark on offense after they floundered on that end of the floor in the playoffs made total sense. But throwing a bag that big at Fournier was doomed to bite them. Just one full season into the deal, the team is desperate to trade him, a clear waving of the white flag for their premier offseason addition just two offseasons ago.

With Evan Fournier and the Knicks eager to move on from one another but no clear path to doing so, the standoff has no clear end in sight.