Evan Fournier spent 12 seasons within the NBA earlier than the previous Boston Celtics ahead determined to punt on free company and determined to signal a two-year, $4 million take care of EuroLeague membership Olympiacos B.C.
Following a career-altering stint with the New York Knicks that noticed Fournier’s minutes plummet from 29.5 in 2021-22 to 17 in 2022-23, plus a non-beneficial midseason commerce to the Detroit Pistons, Fournier had sufficient. The return to NBA free company did not fare nicely for the 31-year-old, nevertheless, it wasn’t as if every of the league’s 30 franchises had zero curiosity in placing a deal. Fournier revealed that the Washington Wizards prolonged a two-year provide, per Maxine Aubin of L’Equipe, which Fournier rejected.
“I had already considered going again to Europe,” Fournier informed L’Equipe. “If it was to expertise one thing robust feelings, in a spot the place it was on fireplace, it was 100% sure. I might have appreciated to expertise extra issues within the NBA, I solely made the playoffs 5 instances. However you do not management all the things about your future there. After the Olympic Video games, I informed my agent that I used to be eager to (return to Europe). Olympiakos was my precedence.”
Fournier, a first-round choice by the Denver Nuggets (twentieth general) in 2012, reached the peak of his profession with the Orlando Magic, averaging 16.2 factors with 2.9 rebounds and three assists via a seven-year stint. Fournier was a dependable 3-point shooter, draining 37.4% of outdoor shot makes an attempt within the NBA, however by no means managed to return to the identical offensive type that he’d attain with Orlando. Brief-lived tenures with the Celtics, Knicks and Pistons — by which he fell out of every crew’s rotation — proved Fournier wanted a recent begin, and even averaging 9.8 factors for Crew France throughout its silver medal run within the 2024 Paris Summer season Olympics wasn’t sufficient to bulk up the inventory worth.
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Now, Fournier can make the most of the subsequent two years with Olympiacos to doubtlessly restore his broken market worth and attain out to NBA groups in 2026.
“I’m conscious that it isn’t the NBA,” Fournier defined to L’Equipe. “There might be an adaptation interval, however each summer season, I am going again to play in FIBA’s greatest competitions. Right here, I might navigate the positions from ‘1’ to ‘3’. It leaves extra alternatives to take minutes. The No. 1 factor is that I wish to win the EuroLeague.”
