The New York Knicks have a solid rotation on the wing: Quentin Grimes and RJ Barrett start, with Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart backing them up. Immanuel Quickley can slide down to play a little two as well.
That doesn’t leave many minutes for Evan Fournier. The veteran French player was squeezed out of Tom Thibodeau’s rotation last season and expected to be traded before training camp opened this season. Yet here we are with preseason games about to tip off and Fournier is still a Knick — and he’s frustrated about it, as he told Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News (warning, NSFW language).
Evan Fournier on being out of the #Knicks rotation: “To be honest — I might be dreaming — but to me, I can help the team. I’m a good player. I can fucking play. I can bring stuff that this team doesn’t have, too. I have hope to play.” pic.twitter.com/cXa9RgccW2
— Kristian Winfield (@Krisplashed) October 7, 2023
Fournier is under contract for $18.9 million this season and the reason he is still a Knick is the front office would love to use his salary in a trade, that deal just has not come along yet. (The Knicks have a team option on Fournier for $19 million next season.)
While Fourier struggled last season as his role shrunk, two seasons ago he averaged 14.1 points a game as a starter, shooting 38.9% from 3, and for most of his career has been a solid shooter on the wing with numbers like that season. There are teams where he might fit as a floor-spacing role player, but nobody is trading anything of value to get him, and at nearly $19 million a year it’s hard to see a team reaching a trade just for him. If Fournier gets traded, it will be as salary ballast in a bigger deal.
Which means the drama over Fournier being outside the Knicks rotation may be one of the ongoing stories for the Knicks this season. However, if the team is winning, it won’t be a major storyline.
