Knicks HC Tom Thibodeau fires brutal shot at unhappy veteran

Thibodeau went further to confirm that the team plans to start 23-year-old Quentin Grimes at shooting guard during the upcoming season.

Grimes averaged 11.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 29.9 minutes per game over 71 contests (66 starts) during the 2022-23 campaign, which was his second in the NBA.

Behind a solid young core of Grimes, Immanuel Quickley and R.J. Barrett, plus a pair of stars in Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle, the Knicks achieved their highest win total in 10 years last season and made the Eastern Conference semifinals for the first time since 2013.

Fournier was one player who hardly had a chance to contribute to the winning ways, however, and let his feelings be known in a July interview where he ripped both the team and his head coach.

"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?" the Frenchman said during an interview with Yann Ohnona of L'Equipe. "During the five-on-five practice, we were on the side like some prospects. Uncool times."

The 30-year-old Fournier played and started in 80 games during his first full season in New York in 2021-22 but fell out of favor with Thibodeau in year two.

The two-time NBA Coach of the Year instead turned to a younger rotation, as each of the Knicks' top-10 players in games was 28 years old or younger.

Fournier was limited to a career-low 27 games played and his minutes (17.0), points (6.1), rebounds (1.8) and assists (1.3) per contest were the lowest since his 2012-13 year. The sharpshooter's field goal (.337) and three-point field goal percentages (.307) were also the worst he's ever posted and he didn't see the court at all come playoff time.

"I have nothing to say because I have none," Fournier said of his relationship with Thibodeau during the summer interview. "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 still has one guaranteed year left on his contract and said in July he'd be "very surprised" to be on the team during the 2023-24 season.

The former Denver Nuggets' first-round said at the time that he'd be "shot (coming back to New York)," that he was "going to be traded, it's not possible otherwise," and if he stayed, "it would be a disaster basketball-wise for (his) career."