Disappointment is the perfect word to sum up the last year for 30-year-old wing Evan Fournier. Not only did he play in just 27 games and fall out of the rotation for the New York Knicks, but the veteran was unable to lead France in this year's World Cup, as the French failed to make it out of the group stage after earning a bronze medal at each of the last two World Cups.
Now, Fournier's attention will quickly turn to the upcoming 2023-24 NBA season, as a lot of uncertainty surrounds him.
This past year ended up being his worst year since the 2012-13 season, which was Fournier's first in the NBA. He sat on the bench in New York a vast majority of the year and the veteran was not afraid to voice his displeasures right after the team lost in the playoffs.
“You know I’m not gonna be back,” Fournier told reporters after the Knicks fell to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. “There’s no way they’re gonna keep me. I would be very surprised if they do. So, we’ll see. It’s obviously not in my hands though.”
There has been a lot of speculation about if New York would be trading Fournier this offseason, a tall task given that he is set to make a guaranteed $18.85 million and still has a team option on his contract for the 2024-25 season.
Fournier is interested in being traded and when asked about his NBA future following France's exit from the FIBA World Cup recrntly, the former first-round pick made it very clear that the Knicks are the ones who have the final say.
“We’ll see. Obviously, I want to play again,” Fournier told Eurohoops regarding his situation with New York. “I want to have success. I know I can help. I know I can play, I know I can do many things.”
Originally joining the Knicks ahead of the 2021-22 season, Fournier played in a total of 80 games during his first year in New York. He managed to average 14.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game while shooting 38.9 percent from three-point range, the second-best percentage on the team out of those who took at least 300 threes that year.
After being benched by head coach Tom Thibodeau and left out of the rotation, the French three-point specialist revealed this offseason that he has no relationship with his coach. He also stated that Thibodeau never spoke with him about what the next steps were after he was removed from the team's rotations.
“As you know it’s not in my hands,” Fournier went on to say recently. “If the Knicks want to keep me, I’ll have to stay, if they want to trade me I’ll have to go.”
The Knicks will be a team that enters the 2023-24 season with high expectations of competing with the best of the best in the Eastern Conference. Keeping Fournier around does not appear to be in the best interest of the team, nor the player, which is why it is very likely that he will be traded at some point over the next few months.
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