Los Angeles (AFP) – Stuck on the bench of the New York Knicks in the NBA for more than a year, Frenchman Evan Fournier was transferred Thursday to the Detroit Pistons and can hope to find playing time five months before the Paris Olympics .
Published on: 02/08/2024 – 9:55 p.m.
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Great friend of Fournier, Chicago Bulls pivot Nikola Vucevic summed up the situation with humor in a tweet on Thursday which mentioned the Frenchman, with a GIF of Mel Gibson in the skin of the Scottish knight William Wallace in the film Braveheart screaming “freedooooooom” ( “freedom”).
In an impasse at the New York Knicks where he had barely played for over a year, Evan Fournier finally has the hope of returning to the courts to play basketball again. A relief for the 31-year-old, and for the French team, which is counting on the winger, Olympic vice-champion in 2021, for the Paris Games this summer, a lifelong goal for the Blues.
“It’s been a problem for a while, the fact that he’s not playing. It’s always better to play. We don’t intend to do without him,” commented to AFP in December Boris Diaw, general manager of the France team, who has one less problem.
38 minutes this season
Fournier leaves the Knicks on the last day allowed for NBA transfers this season, the traditional and very lively “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.
Fournier should not be able to play with Killian Hayes, however. The French leader of the Pistons was released by his team, several American media announced Thursday.
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).
Evan Fournier against the Pacers during one of these rare matches with the Knicks this season, December 30, 2023 in Indianapolis © ANDY LYONS / Getty/AFP/Archives
After a good season in 2021-2022 (80 matches, 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 season’s matches before being confined to the bench in the play-offs last spring.
More in the plans of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, the Ile-de-France native has only played 38 minutes of play this season spread over three games for a total of 12 points scored.
Drafted in 2012
Fournier has a significant contract worth nearly $19 million (around €17.6 million) this year, which weighs on the transfer market in a league that respects a salary cap. He will be free this summer unless his team activates a clause for a new season at $19 million.
The former Poitiers player will try to relaunch a career which has suffered a serious setback for a little over a year.
Evan Fournier in the Orlando Magic jersey during the Brooklyn Nets reception, March 19, 2021 © Julio Aguilar / Getty/AFP/Archives
Drafted in 20th position in 2012 by the Denver Nuggets, he was transferred to the Orlando Magic after two seasons. In Florida, this shooting guard had become a major player, carrying the Magic into the play-offs (two eliminations in the first round in 2019 and 2020) with statistics constantly increasing to an average of nearly 20 points per game (19 ,7) in 2020-2021.
Sent to Boston in March 2021 where he participated in an elimination in the first round of the play-offs, Fournier joined the Knicks the following summer, for an adventure with a bitter end.
© 2024 AFP
2024-02-08 20:57:04
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