Knicks’ Evan Fournier Deal Among Recent Worst Moves

It’s been three years since the New York Knicks gave Evan Fournier a $73 million contract in free agency.

While the deal looked good at the time, it ended up being one of the bigger mistakes the Knicks have made in recent years.

Bleacher Report writer David Kenyon listed the Fournier deal as one of the seven worst contracts in the last five years.

“New York, which snapped an eight-year playoff drought that season, saw a window of contention opening,” Kenyon writes. “Whether the Knicks should’ve prioritized a true point guard is a fair question, but Fournier offered elite shooting. Within a year, however, he was an afterthought. Fournier fell out of the rotation in 2022-23 and could not regain a spot in 2023-24, either. He totaled 498 minutes with New York during those two seasons while earning $18-plus million each year. After his very expensive bench-sitting, the Knicks shipped him to the Detroit Pistons at the 2024 trade deadline.”

Fournier was considered one of the best 3-point shooters in the league when he signed with the Knicks, who were looking to take a step in the right direction after finally returning to the playoffs.

However, the Knicks took a step back that season, much like Fournier, who proved to be a big swing-and-miss for New York.

Fournier also appeared to butt heads with coach Tom Thibodeau, which led to his exclusion from the rotation. Fournier requested a trade many times from the Knicks front office, but his contract was very hard to move as it needed future draft capital attached.

Ultimately, the Knicks were able to trade Fournier to the Pistons in a deal that landed them Bojan Bogdanovic, another 3-point specialist with a pricey contract on the wrong team. Bogdanovic is likely going to see his $19 million guaranteed for the upcoming season in order to include it in a trade, and it’s possible that the deal could make Fournier’s contract worth it in the long run.

But for now, this is considered as a massive mistake for the Knicks.

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