Evan Fournier Joins Detroit Pistons After Lacking Playing Time in New York

Lacking playing time in New York for more than a year, the Frenchman bounced back in Detroit, a few months before the Paris Olympic Games.

Published on 02/08/2024 23:21

Reading time: 1 min Evan Fournier with the New York Knicks against the Boston Celtics, October 9, 2023. (SARAH STIER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA)

French basketball player Evan Fournier was transferred from the New York Knicks to the Detroit Pistons, his new NBA team announced Thursday February 8. The 31-year-old guard, who hardly ever played with the Knicks, has the opportunity to return to action six months before the Paris Olympic Games, where he should be part of the French team.

Evan Fournier leaves the Knicks on the last day allowed for NBA transfers this season, the traditional and very busy trade deadline. The Frenchman is part of a larger trade between the Pistons and the Knicks, who receive Croatian Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks in exchange for Fournier, Quentin Grimes, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono and several draft picks.

Only 38 minutes of play this season

In Detroit, the Frenchman will not find his compatriot Killian Hayes, since the French leader of the Pistons has been released by his team, several American media announce. Arriving in New York in 2021, Evan Fournier leaves a solid team 4th in the Eastern Conference (33 wins, 18 losses), which is aiming for a long run in the play-offs, for the franchise with the worst record of the season, last in the East (7 wins, 43 losses).

After a good season in 2021-2022 (80 games, 14.1 points average) Fournier saw his situation in New York deteriorate at the end of 2022 and ultimately did not play half of the matches of the season before being confined on the bench in the play-offs last spring. No longer part of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau’s plans, the Ile-de-France native has only played 38 minutes this season, spread over three games for a total of 12 points scored.

2024-02-08 22:38:59
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