Evan Fournier Has 'Nothing to Say' About Demotion in Knicks Lineup
Last season, Evan Fournier broke the New York Knicks' single-season successful three-pointer record that John Starks held for nearly three decades. Nowadays, you're probably more likely to hear the name of Starks ... who last suited up for the Knicks in 1998 ... than Fournier's during game broadcasts.
Starting the year as the Knicks' primary shooting guard, Fournier has been stashed on the team's bench for the past nine games, the dreaded "DNP-CD" initials lingering near each nightly box score. With his minutes now occupied by sophomore first-round pick Quentin Grimes and Cam Reddish in a contract year, Fournier and his guaranteed $36 million over the next two seasons have lost all semblance of a role in the Knicks' lineup.
"Outside of hard, there’s nothing else to say,” Fournier said of his benching after Tuesday's win in Detroit. “(I'm) trying to do my job, be supportive, be a good teammate, and do my work and that’s it.”
Tuesday's instance in Detroit, a 140-110 triumph for the Knicks, was perhaps the most egregious example of how far Fournier, 30, has fallen in the eyes of management: a rare blowout on New York's side of the scoreboard allowed the team to empty its bench but Fournier was still held out, even as the likes of Svi Mykhailiuk and Ryan Arcidiacono (the latter suffering an ankle sprain) took to the floor of Little Caesars Arena.
A second-year New Yorker, Fournier was the Knicks' first shooting guard for the first seven games of the season, reprising a role he held for 80 games in his debut. Some questioned Tom Thibodeau's immediate faith in Fournier, even with Grimes dealing with preseason foot soreness. Despite Fournier's history, he shot only 42 percent from the field, his worst since entering the league as Denver's first-round pick in 2012.
The head coach, however, felt Fournier brought a sense of consistency to the Knicks' shooting efforts. Fournier's leadership, on display when he guided the French national team to a runner-up showing at the EuroBasket Tournament over the summer as the captain, perhaps played a role as well.
"We need shooting. The one thing that I know is that, with Jalen (Brunson), with RJ (Barrett), with Julius (Randle), we have to put shooting around them," Thibodeau said as the Knicks opened training camp. "Mitchell will give us pressure on the rim, that's what will force a defense to collapse."
"Evan's proven. I thought the second half of last year, he played really well. I think we have good depth at that position. We'll see how everything unfolds."
That, however, couldn't save Fournier from becoming the first casualty of Thibodeau's lineup adjustments made in response to an early three-game losing streak: he was a minus-45 and averaging just over 22 minutes of action in that span, leading Thibodeau to Reddish in the role in time for a five-legged western swing. When Reddish injured his groin in the latter stages of the trip, Grimes took over and has since established a spot for himself.
Fournier has been nailed to the bench since, his last two appearances featuring a pair of matching 0-for-5 shooting showings, which led to a new career-low of 34 percent from the field.
Though the Knicks (10-12) reportedly explored moving Fournier over the offseason, trading him for any sort of notable yield seems like a tall task thanks to his contract and inactivity. New York might even have to entice potential suitors by venturing into its expansive first-round pick cabinet to get his contract even partially off the books.
But while a trade would likely allow Fournier to get back on the floor, it'd be a chaotic blow to his life at home: in a translated interview with Basket USA, Fournier revealed that his wife Laura is pregnant and that a trade to a new locale would prevent him from being there for his growing family in the early stages.
"(Being) traded now means that I will not see my family for several months, that I will not see my new son. I'm at a stage in my career where that's hard, and I don't necessarily want to experience it," Fournier said. "It's a complicated situation, also on the family level. So let's be patient for now and we'll see."
Fournier further stressed patience in the same interview that he's made no changes to his workout routines, promising to stay ready if and when his number is called.
"It's about doing what I have to do to stay prepared," Fournier said of making no changes to his game.
"I try to hold myself together (and be) ready," Fournier said. "I'm going to train, I'm going to do cardio, I'm going to (the gym). When I say professional, that's it. I'm preparing myself in case the coach needs me."
The Knicks return to action on Saturday afternoon against the Dallas Mavericks (12:30 p.m. ET, MSG).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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