Le Capitaine: Knicks' Evan Fournier Earns Top French Team Honor
No matter what NBA team resides on the front of his jersey next season, Evan Fournier will also bear a "C."
The New York Knicks' newly-minted franchise leader in single-season three-point conversion has been named the captain of the French men's national basketball squad. Les Bleus are set to partake in the upcoming EuroBasket tournament shared between the Czech Republic, Germany Georgia, and Italy.
Fournier, 29, succeeds Nicolas Batum in the French captaincy and will serve alongside vice-captain Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves. France is seeking its second EuroBasket title and first since the 2013 edition in Slovenia.
Prior to his first year with the Knicks, Fournier partook in the French squad's runner-up effort at last summer's Olympics in Tokyo. Fournier finished eighth among all Olympics scorers, notably scoring 28 in an 83-76 upset victory over the United States in pool play. The Americans eventually had their revenge in the gold medal game though Fournier and Gobert united to lead the team with 16 points each. It was good for France's first Olympic medal in men's basketball since the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney.
True to form, Fournier kept his foreign scoring prowess alive in his first game at the helm, leading the team with 15 points in just over 16 minutes en route to an 89-65 victory over the Netherlands in a preparation exhibition. Former Knicks Frank Ntilikina is likewise representing the French.
In terms of a more American shade of blue, Fournier's honor comes as his New York future has been one of the bigger talking points of the Knicks' offseason. Despite his record-setting performance from deep, Fournier mostly struggled after coming over from Boston in a sign-and-trade deal last summer. He started 80 games for the Knicks last season, shooting a career-worst .417 from the floor overall. Fournier, set to partake in his 11th NBA season, has spent a majority of his career with Orlando after originally entering the Association as a first-round pick of Denver's in 2012.
With two more years left on his contract to go along with a $37 million-plus cap hit in that span, Fournier has been part of many a hypothetical trade as the Knicks try to land Donovan Mitchell, though Gobert's former employers in Utah have reportedly been reluctant to take on a big price tag off the Knicks' hands in such a deal.
