Evan Fournier felt hatred when he fell out of Tom Thibodeau’s good graces.
The 30-year-old Knicks guard was brutally honest about where he stands with the organization in an interview with French outlet L’Equipe, during which he explained the emotional rollercoaster he experienced when the New York head coach demoted him.
“You want to spit on everyone,” Fournier told L’Equipe. “You have hatred.
“Derrick Rose and I looked at each other and said to each other: ‘What the hell are we doing here?’
“During the five-on-five practice, we were on the side like some prospects. Uncool times.”
Fournier was moved to a bench role after starting the Knicks’ first seven games — and was shifted out of the rotation entirely in mid-November, barely seeing the floor the remainder of the season.
The Frenchman revealed that his relationship with Thibodeau is non-existent, alluding that things soured when he was yanked from the starting lineup.
“When he took me out of the five, he just told me he was going to try something else,” Fournier said. “Then at the first match of a road trip, he announced to me that I was leaving the rotation, and ciao.”
Fournier eventually shifted his focus on conditioning himself and worked with assistant coach Daniel Brady.
Nonetheless, Fournier wants out of New York.
He explained that his career would take a disastrous turn if he remained with the Knicks.
“I would be shot,” Fournier said 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].”
Following the Knicks’ season-ending loss to Miami in May in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, 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 NBA Draft.
He’s spent two seasons in New York.