By Antonis Stroggylakis / astroggylakis@eurohoops.net
Jakarta, Indonesia – The 2022-23 season ended up being a miserable ordeal for New York Knicks and French national team wing Evan Fournier. He now looks forward to a different kind of experience next year and that will happen if he gets to a position where he’s actually playing basketball once more.
“We’ll see. Obviously, I want to play again. I want to have success. I know I can help. I know I can play, I know I can do many things,” Fournier said when asked by Eurohoops on what’s his current situation with the New York Knicks, during the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
After starting in all 80 games he played with the Knicks in his first year with the team and averaging 14.1 points, 2.6 assists and 2.1 rebounds over 29:30, Fournier endured the most disheartening moments of his career last season. He began to get sidelined more and more until, ultimately, he wasn’t considered at all by Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, ending up out of the team’s rotation.
All these following being a starter in nearly all of his NBA appearances from 2015-2016 when he played with the Orlando Magic.
During this summer, Fournier revealed that his emotions reached even levels of anger and “hatred” during what he went through in his 11th NBA campaign, saying that he has absolutely no relationship with Thibodeau.
He expressed optimism on being traded but the offseason hasn’t brought him this kind of joyful news.
Fournier, who’s going to be 31 in October, obviously can’t handle a second consecutive campaign like that and feeling unhappy over and over again since he can’t hoop. “As you know it’s not in my hands. If the Knicks want to keep me, I’ll have to stay, if they want to trade me I’ll have to go.”
Photo: FIBA Basketball