TALK THAT SHIT, EVAN

Evan Fournier had a roughhhh 2022-23 season with the New York Knicks.

In 2021, the Knicks gave Fournier a 4-year $78 million deal.

He started in all 80 games he played, averaging 14 points a night while shooting 39% from 3.

Oh, and that Knicks team went 37-45 in Fournier’s first season with the team.

Interesting.

Then the Knicks brought in Jalen Brunson to lead the show and paired him with second-year guard, Quentin Grimes. Just like that, Fournier vanished from the rotation and watched the whole season from the bench.

The Knicks had a pretty quiet offseason this summer and many of us forgot Fournier was still even on the roster.

Well, Fournier didn’t forget he was still in New York and had a lotttttt to say about his role on the team last season.

In an interview with a French magazine, Fournier unloaded the clip on his real feelings about what happened to him.

The interview is mostly filled with him complaining about his daily routine being upset by not playing and if you find that shit interesting then you can go read about Fournier’s warmups or whatever but let’s focus on the juicy parts.

Here is Fournier explaining some of his frustrations sitting on the sidelines:

“You want to spit on everyone. 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. And when I realized that wouldn’t change, I took things more slowly,” he said. “I focused on myself and didn’t let the rest get to me anymore. I did three cardio sessions, two weight training sessions per week, a lot of travel work, [analyzing] game situations with an assistant coach Daniel Brady.”

Once again, Fournier cannot help himself from talking about how his training was affected by not playing so go ahead and ignore his cardio and weight-lifting nonsense.

But I respect the hell out of Evan for being candid about his feelings.

At 30 years old, he is in the peak of his prime and cannot believe he can’t even participate in Knicks practices. I imagine he spent a lot of time looking at Derrick Rose and rolling his eyes when Julius Randle is dribbling the ball off his feet or RJ Barrett is airballing 3’s.

Here’s what Evan said about his relationship with Tom Thibodeau:

“I have nothing to say because I have none,” Fournier said about rapport with the specialist.”When he took me out of the five, he just told me he was going to try something else. Then at the first match of a road trip, he announced to me that I was leaving the rotation, and ciao.”

There are many reasons to criticize Tom Thibodeau but this has to be one of his biggest flaws. It happened with Cam Reddish and it happened with Fournier. Thibs doesn’t communicate. He doesn’t explain his decisions to anyone. He’ll take you out of the rotation and never speak to you about your role again. Imagine any job you have. If your boss calls you into his office, says he’s demoting you and then asks you to leave his office without any further discussion then you are going to spend every molecule of oxygen you have for the rest of the day complaining to everyone and anyone about your dickhead boss.

It’s easy to mock Fournier for being super chatty in this interview and talking about himself like he’s Jayson Tatum or someone deserving of 20 shots a night but if you’re Evan, you’re allowed to be spicy watching the Knicks lose to the Miami Heat and miss 3’s left and right when you’re sitting on the bench as the best perimeter shooter on the team.

Let Evan Fournier get his shit off.

He’s clearly concerned about still being on the roster at this point so he’s attempting to burn this bridge down and manufacture a toxic situation where the Knicks simply cannot bring him back in the locker room. He was a professional for one year. It sounds like he has no intentions of being quiet anymore.

Big “fuck you, PLAY ME” vibes from Evan.

All that being said, Evan Fournier didn’t play last season because of Evan Fournier.

Quentin Grimes took his job because he is one of the best perimeter on-ball defenders in the NBA while Fournier is an unathletic, flat-footed cardboard cut-out on defense. He started 80 games two years ago and the team finished 8 games below .500. He had his opportunity to prove himself and this team sucked when he was on the court.

At the trade deadline, the Knicks acquired Josh Hart and immediately went on a 9-game win streak. An unselfish, versatile guard who plays defense and grabs rebounds. Evan Fournier is none of those things.

But I hope the Knicks get his weird ass out of here and onto a team with available playing time for me. There are rumors he could be on the Spurs. Cannot wait to see Fournier steal possessions from Victor Wembanyama and ruin his development. He’s about to become Britney Spears fans’ favorite player.

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