After the Denver Nuggets (2012-2014), the Orlando Magic (2014-2021), the Boston Celtics (2021) and the New York Knicks since this date, Evan Fournier will experience a sixth NBA franchise.
The French winger was recruited on February 8 by the Detroit Pistons.
New York found him a base a few hours before the end of the “trade”, the NBA winter transfer window.
It was time.
With his teammates Quentin Grimes and Malachi Flynn and against two next draft rounds, the former Nanterre and Poitiers player was exchanged for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks who are heading to the Big Apple.
Full trade, per ESPN Sources:
Knicks: Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks
Pistons: Quentin Grimes, Malachi Flynn, Evan Fournier, Ryan Arcidiacono and two second-round picks.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2024
For Evan Fournier, this is above all excellent news.
Since November 2022, he has no longer played in New York: his coach Tom Thibodeau put him on the sidelines without ever taking him out.
Since the start of the season, he has only come into play three times and for minutes which, put together, do not make a complete match.
Without ever complaining, he was losing himself and it had been going on for too long.
“Rediscover rhythm and sensations”
In Detroit, he will find the field again.
If this is good news for him, it is also excellent for the French team: Evan Fournier is suddenly back in the race for selection for the Olympic Games.
Without playing time with the Knicks, it would have been complicated for Vincent Collet to take him this summer.
This problem is resolved: with the Pistons, the Frenchman will play around thirty games before the end of the regular season.
He will find the rhythm, the sensations, the pleasure of playing that he has been missing for 15 months.
The problem is that he falls into the worst team in the NBA, even worse than Victor Wembanyama's Spurs (10W, 41D).
Far from their past glory and their NBA titles at the crossroads of the 1980s-1990s and the beginning of the century, the Pistons have been dragging their misery in the depths of the Eastern Conference for years.
Their record at mid-season is absolutely catastrophic: 43 defeats for only 7 victories.
No NBA franchise does worse and the presence of Evan Fournier and his 3-point skill will not change anything.
He will be on vacation, like Wemby, Bilal Coulibaly in Washington and his new teammate Kylian Hayes, at the end of the regular season in mid-April.
Those selected from among these will then be able to devote themselves to preparing for the Games.
With this exchange and this transfer, Fournier should play his first match this Friday evening against Portland.