Ex-Celtics $73 Million Starter Goes Public: ‘I’m Going to Be Traded’

Getty Jaylen Brown, Evan Fournier

Former Boston Celtics starter Evan Fournier is not happy with his current team, the New York Knicks. Fournier voiced his frustration with the Celtics’ division rival while speaking with Yahn Ohnona of the French publication L’Equipe, going as far as saying that he expects to be traded.

“I would be very surprised to be a Knick next year. They pay me 18 million. They have no interest in keeping me,” Fournier said. “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.”

Fournier said with certainty that he believes it’s over between him and the Knicks and added why he doesn’t think he’s playing for them again.

“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,” Fournier said. “I can manage a year without playing. Two … that would be terrible.”

Fournier was traded to the Celtics at the NBA trade deadline, where he started 10 out of the 16 games he played for the team during the regular season, then started all five games for them in their lone playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets.

Fournier then agreed to a four-year, $73 million contract with the Knicks the following offseason.

Evan Fournier Would Welcome Trade to Spurs

Fournier said he’d like to play somewhere where he “can have fun.” While he didn’t say that he would prefer to be traded to the San Antonio Spurs, he talked about why he would be okay with playing for them.

“I want a spot where I can have fun again, where I can be myself. Would their game be more suited to me? It’s not the Spurs of 2014 anymore, but playing for Pop [Gregg Popovich], learning from him, it would be a pleasure and an honor, for sure,” he said. “Afterward, being with Victor [Wembanyama], looking at the [upcoming Paris] Olympics, being able to start connecting on the court, that would be great.”

Both Wembanyama and Fournier hail from France, so there would be a connection if they were to become teammates.

Evan Fournier Has No Rapport With Ex-Celtics Assistant

Fournier was asked about his relationship with Knicks head coach and former Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau. Fournier said he had nothing to say because they don’t have a rapport.

“I have nothing to say because I have none,” Fournier said. “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.”

Fournier has fallen hard out of the Knicks rotation since joining them in 2021. His debut with the Knicks started amazingly, scoring a then-career-high 32 points against the Celtics on an opening night victory.

Fournier would go on to top that performance with a 41-point output against the Celtics again on January 6, 2022.