


Evan Fournier is ready to escape New York.
The 30-year-old Knicks guard was brutally honest about where he stands with the organization in a recent interview, during which he explained why his career will take a disastrous turn if he stays with the team.
“I would be shot,” the French player told L’Equipe of the outcome if he stays in New York. “I’m going to be traded, it’s not possible otherwise. Or I’d be stuck, and so would they.
“They have several players with big contracts coming in. Unless they want to pay a crazy luxury tax… If I stayed, it would be a disaster basketball-wise for my career.
“I can manage a year without playing. Two… that would be terrible.”
Fournier is set to earn $18.9 million in the final guaranteed year of his four-year, $73 million deal he signed in August 2021.
“I would be very surprised to be a Knick next year,” he said. “They pay me 18 million, they have no interest in keeping me.
“If you want to trade me with a good return, why didn’t you use me? I was coming out of a season where I was the fourth-best 3-point shooter in the league. Why not take advantage of it?
“Now they won’t get anything interesting and that’s normal because I couldn’t show anything [on the court].”
Fournier added that his relationship with head coach Tom Thibodeau is non-existent.
The guard was moved to a bench role after starting the Knicks’ first seven games and was moved out of the rotation entirely in mid-November, barely seeing the floor the remainder of the season.
Following the Knicks’ season-ending loss to Miami in May, Fournier told reporters that he expected to be traded this offseason.
“You know I’m not gonna be back,” he said at the time. “There’s no way they’re gonna keep me. I would be very surprised if they do. So, we’ll see. It’s obviously not in my hands though.”
Fournier finished this past season with 6.1 points per game — his lowest scoring average since he was a rookie in 2012-13.
He was selected with the 20th overall pick by the Nuggets in the 2012 draft.