Getty Evan Fournier of the New York Knicks celebrates his three point shot in the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Sunday evening, the New York Knicks managed to collect their 29th victory of the season and, with this, simultaneously created a larger gap between them and the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks as they downed the visiting Philadelphia 76ers by a final score of 108-97.
As has been the case throughout the majority of this season, leading the charge for the club in the contest were the likes of Jalen Brunson and All-Star Julius Randle, who collectively put up 45 points, 14 assists, and 12 rebounds on the night.
Surprisingly, however, serving as a driving force in the Knicks’ win alongside them was estranged wing Evan Fournier, who finished the night with 17 points while shooting 54.5% from the field and 62.5% from beyond the arc in just shy of 24 minutes of action.
Evan Fournier is FEELING it 🔥
He’s got 5 triples for the @nyknicks on ESPN!
Following the win, reporters asked Fournier if he believes his latest showing could help earn him a new-found role within head coach Tom Thibodeau’s rotation moving forward. In response, the veteran made it clear that he does not envision such a scenario will happen.
“I don’t think so. I think he’s set on his nine-man rotation. It was like a fun one-night stand…We’ll see, I mean, throughout the course of a season there’s always, you know, sometimes a guy’s sick, sometimes there’s an injury, so, you know, I’m sure I’ll have another chance to play but I don’t think he’s going to change anything,” Fournier said.
After putting up solid per-game averages of 14.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.0 steals on 38.9% shooting from distance during his inaugural 2021-22 season in the Big Apple, now in year two, Evan Fournier has seen his role with the Knicks diminish from being a consistent stater to a regular DNP-collector, as he has played a total of nine times since November 13.
With the February 9 deadline rapidly approaching, many are anticipating that the 11-year pro will be shipped outbound and, per a February 4 report by Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Leon Rose and company are actively in the process of trying to find a trade partner.
Knicks Could Send Fournier to Utah
As alluded to, Michael Scotto recently reported that the Knicks have entered into preliminary trade discussions with the Utah Jazz that would involve Fournier and Obi Toppin being sent out to Salt Lake City.
The details read as follows:
“The Knicks and Jazz have had exploratory conversations surrounding Obi Toppin, Evan Fournier, and draft pick compensation for Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt, league sources told HoopsHype,” per Scotto.
Sources: The Knicks and Jazz have had exploratory trade talks involving Obi Toppin, Evan Fournier, and draft pick compensation for Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. Details on @hoopshype.
Beasley has been a player tabbed as a legitimate trade option for the Knicks for quite some time, even being viewed by Knicks Fan TV’s CP “The Franchise” as a player who could help address the club’s offensive bench woes while the 23-year-old Vanderbilt has proven himself to be a quality two-way power forward who finds himself boasting sound averages of 8.3 points, 7.9 boards, 2.7 assists and a steal per game.
Knicks Guard Could be an All-Star
Though the All-Star selection process has already passed, due to recent events the illustrious exhibition could soon be in search for a new talent to join one of the game’s two rosters.
On February 5 The Athletic’s Shams Charania broke the news that the Brooklyn Nets and Mavericks executed a major blockbuster trade that sent point guard Kyrie Irving out to Dallas.
With this, many fans were found speculating the ripple effects that could be created due to this monster transaction and one that was mentioned, in specific, was the roster construction of the 2023 All-Star Game.
Though the NBA did away with the traditional east versus west format back in 2020, the league still ends up sending the same number of representatives for each conference to the contest and, with Irving in Dallas, the 2023 exhibition now finds the west with one more player than the east.
Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News suggested that the league may opt to address this predicament by replacing the injured Stephen Curry, who is expected to miss “multiple weeks” with a left leg injury anyway, with Irving and subsequently give the Eastern Conference the injury replacement roster spot that would have been used on Curry.
If this were to happen, there are some such as the twitter page KnicksMuse who believe New York’s starting point guard Jalen Brunson would be deserving of a nod, as does his own teammate and All-Star big man Julius Randle, who went as far as to state in a post-game media session following the Knicks’ February 2 win over the Miami Heat that the “only thing that really sucks is that I think Jalen [Brunson] should be right here with me” when it comes to receiving his second career nomination.