The latest on Evan Fournier’s future with the New York Knicks
The 2020-21 season was a monumental season for the The New York Knicks.
Okay, you got me, there’s nothing monumental about losing in the first round of the playoffs, but that’s about it. The Knicks made the playoffs for the first time since 2013 and it looked like things were finally starting to turn around for this franchise.
Then the Knicks missed the playoffs last season after finishing with just four fewer wins than during the 2020-21 season and now this year, question marks still hang around this franchise.
Ahead of Friday night’s game against the Chicago BullsNew York finds itself with a very respectable record of 15-13, putting them 6th in the Eastern Conference standings for now.
New York has a chance to return to the playoffs this year, but much of their potential success depends on what happens at the trade deadline. Cam Reddish, Immanuel Quickley and Derrick Rose are three players the team could look to talk about, as is veteran wing Evan Fournier.
Now in his second season with the Knicks, Fournier has been removed from head coach Tom Thibodeau’s rotations and the veteran hasn’t played since Nov. 13. Fournier isn’t injured, the Knicks just don’t want to play him, which raises the question of “Why don’t they trade him then?”
Signing a four-year, $73 million deal with New York before the start of the 2021-22 season, Evan Fournier is under contract through the 2023-24 season and also has a $19 million team option for the final year of his career. his agreement, the 2024-25 season.
Making $18 million this season, moving Fournier is no easy task for the Knicks, as very few teams have the ability to take on a contract that size. Not to mention that he is now 30 years old and hasn’t played for almost a month.
While they might look to simply trade Fournier for what they can get, throwing away his salary in the process, it doesn’t seem like this is the direction the Knicks want to go.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorstthe Knicks “are not interested in losing salary in the future” and this goes for any potential deal involving Evan Fournier.
“The Knicks are not interested in losing salary in the future. They’ll do business, but I think there’s been a concept that they could, like, attach a pick to get rid of Evan Fournier or something. But in my opinion that is not true. I think they would trade Evan Fournier, I mean he’s not playing for them right now, of course they would trade him. But I don’t think they feel any kind of desperation to free up salary cap space.” -Brian Windhorst on Brian Windhorst and the Hoop Collective podcast
For his career, Evan Fournier has averaged 14.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game on 38.0 percent shooting from the ground. Yet in 13 games with the Knicks this season, he’s only averaged 6.9 points per game while shooting 33.3 percent from 3-point range.
Teams looking for an experienced 3-point shooting threat will probably be interested in a player like Fournier before the trade deadline, but the Knicks want to get something of value back for him in trades, something many teams would probably want. Let New York lose. as a result of assuming this bad contract.
The New York Knicks are a team that many in the NBA are watching closely ahead of the trade deadline, as it seems a given that they will make some type of move.
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