There are few, if any certainties surrounding modern New York Knicks basketball. But one can more or less assume that Evan Fournier has no place in a fully healthy Manhattan rotation.
The Knicks continue to keep Fournier buried on the bench, as the 31-year-old shooter has appeared in only two games this season, both in place of injured regulars. Fournier began last season as the Knicks' primary shooting guard but was benched by mid-November and has mostly been out of the rotation ever since.
Considering how little Fournier plays and the $18.8 million salary he carries, it's perhaps a downright miracle he hasn't been traded yet. His contract also carries a $19 million player option for next season and, with extensions for headliners like Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby looming, the idea of the Knicks picking it up seems downright ludicrous.
But ESPN NBA insider Bobby Marks made a case for the Knicks picking up that option, especially if he's still on the roster after the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
"If Fournier’s not dealt by the trade deadline, I think there’s a good chance that option gets exercised, and then New York figures it out because there’s going to be somebody available who’s disgruntled," Marks noted on The HoopsHype Podcast this week. "Someone is going to lose in the playoffs, and someone is going to want to break up their group. Who knows who it’s going to be, is it going to be Donovan Mitchell? I don’t know."
Since Anunoby entered the lineup on Jan. 1, the Knicks (22-16) have enjoyed a five-game winning streak that was snapped on Thursday in Dallas. The congested nature of the Eastern Conference has made it difficult to make headway on the playoff bracket, so New York will likely look for any move they can to separate themselves from the good to linger among the great.
Marks reasons that exercising Fournier's option would keep the Knicks from shipping off any of their foundational men after previously dealing RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to Toronto for Anunoby's services.
"If you decline Fournier’s option and there’s no trade, then who are your tradable contracts? Then you have your value guys Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, OG, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, and Mitchell Robinson, guys like that who are part of your core guys here."
Simply put, Marks reasons, the Knicks appear willing to do their utmost to make sure Fournier doesn't walk for nothing in the purgatory of free agency. His nine figures could come up big if and when they're ready to make the deal that catapults them into the Eastern penthouse. The Knicks would rather have him and not need him than need him and not have him come this summer.
With Fournier on the bench, the Knicks will return to action on Saturday night against the Memphis Grizzlies (8 p.m. ET, MSG).
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