NBA: Fournier and Batum stay one more year in Orlando and Charlotte – NBA

“It will go in pistachio, from tomorrow we will all speak Mandarin”, had fun Evan Fournier Sunday, referring to the opening of the transfer market in the NBA on Monday. The international tricolor, however, will not lose his bearings. Ditto for Nicolas Batum. Holders of a player option for the next season, they had the choice to re-stack for a year or to test the market. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, they have opted for safety and are back in their current club, Orlando and Charlotte. It makes sense for the first named, with an option at $ 17 million. It makes a lot of sense for the second, which will receive $ 27.1 million in 2020-21. They will be free at the end of the season.

“If all this mess hadn’t happened, I would have played my option to test the market”

Evan Fournier

Why logical? With the health crisis and all that it entails, the NBA is losing money, like many players in the US and global economy. Suddenly, it is probably not this year that the owners will splurge … “If all this mess (the coronavirus, editor’s note) had not happened, I would have played my option to test the market”, affirmed he in our columns last June, while he was still in doubt. And to add: “Whatever happens, I still have a year left. It is a certain form of security. I will see.” So it’s seen everything.

Note that many players with a player option at $ 10 million or more will probably make the same choice as the tricolor back of the Magic. With the notable exception of Anthony Davis, who will have no trouble signing a max contract, crisis or no crisis. Moreover, “AD” has rightly chosen to test the market. With “only” $ 3.7 million in 2020-21, a player like Wes Matthews has every interest in freeing himself from his last year of contract. Especially since his name comes back with insistence among the Lakers, who will certainly lose Rajon Rondo (player option at $ 2.6 million) and Danny Green (trade) by recovering Dennis Schröder from OKC. Otto Porter Jr will stay in Chicago (player option, $ 28.4 million).

How to turn your back on $ 27.1 million at 31?

Still, Batum could have made the choice of the game and free himself from his last year of engagement in Charlotte. Little used in 2019-20 (22 matches), he did not take off the bench after the NBA match in Paris between “his” Hornets and Milwaukee, on January 24. Obviously, Michael Jordan’s club was not invited to the Orlando bubble… “It’s true that this year, it was a bit difficult for me anyway”, said “Batman” to AccorHotels Arena. And yet, at that point, he had no idea that he wouldn’t be playing the season again… Clearly, he’s no longer a part of the North Carolina Hornets’ plans. But no one will blame him for choosing financial security. How to turn your back on $ 27.1 million at 31? He would never have received that amount elsewhere. Everyone would probably have done like him. To see if the Hornets will keep him all season, if they will trade him or if he will be cut in order to find a club that really wants to, to play him.

Evan Fournier, 27, completed 2019-20 with 18.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists. 3.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3 “assists” for Nicolas Batum. Their compatriot Ian Mahinmi is going to test the market: he is at the end of his contract with the Wizards. “I want to stay in the NBA, it’s clear and clean,” he told us in June. The 32-year-old has played in the Association for 12 years, including four seasons in Washington.