Latest On Evan Fournier's Future With New York Knicks
The 2020-21 season was a monumental season for the New York Knicks.
Okay you got me, there is nothing monumental about losing in the first-round of the playoffs, but that’s just it. The Knicks made the playoffs for the first time since 2013 and it seemed like things were finally beginning to change for this franchise.
Then the Knicks missed the playoffs last season after finishing with just four less wins than they have during the 2020-21 season and now this year, question marks still circle this franchise.
Heading into Friday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls, New York finds themselves with a very respectable 15-13 record, putting them in the 6-spot in the Eastern Conference standings for the time being.
New York has a chance to make it back to the playoffs this year, but a lot of their potential success depends on what happens at the trade deadline. Cam Reddish, Immanuel Quickley and Derrick Rose are three players who the team could look to engage in conversations on, as is veteran wing Evan Fournier.
Now in his second season with the Knicks, Fournier has fallen out of head coach Tom Thibodeau’s rotations and the veteran has not played since November 13. Fournier is not injured, the Knicks just do not want to play him, which brings up the question of “why don’t they just trade him then?”
Signing a four-year, $73 million deal with New York ahead of the start of the 2021-22 season, Evan Fournier finds himself under contract through the 2023-24 season and he also has a $19 million team option for the final year of his deal, the 2024-25 season.
Making $18 million this season, moving Fournier is not an easy ask for the Knicks, as very few teams have the ability to take on a contract of that size. Not to mention, he is now 30-years-old and has not played for nearly a month.
While they could look to just trade Fournier for whatever they could get, dumping his salary in the process, it does not appear as if this is a direction the Knicks are wanting to go.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Knicks are “not interested in shedding salary going forward” and this applies to any potential deal involving Evan Fournier.
“The Knicks are not interested in shedding salary going forward. They'll do business, but I think there's been a concept that they might, like, attach a pick to get off of Evan Fournier or something like that. But to my understanding that's 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 sort of desperation to clear cap space.” - Brian Windhorst on Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast
For his career, Evan Fournier has averaged 14.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game while shooting 38.0 percent from the floor. However, in 13 games with the Knicks this season, he has only averaged 6.9 points per game while shooting 33.3 percent from three-point range.
Teams looking for an experienced three-point shooting threat will likely be interested in a player like Fournier ahead of the trade deadline, but the Knicks are wanting to get back some value for him in trades, something many teams would likely want New York to forfeit as a result of taking on this bad contract.
The New York Knicks are a team that many across the NBA are watching closely ahead of the trade deadline, as it seems like a given that they will be making some kind of a move.
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