Winners and losers from Knicks preseason
The NBA preseason is an exciting time because it means the next NBA season is about to start. The games are used for the stars of the league to build a rhythm before the season starts, teams to build chemistry, and to scout out which role players we'll make the final rotation.
The New York Knicks are in a unique situation because they have a lot of talent on their roster but it's not enough for them to contend for a title. They need some drastic improvement from key players if they want to be a legit contender.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau only has nine rotation slots in his system. The preseason is being used for any role players to prove that they deserve minutes in their slim nine-man rotation. Here are the winners and losers from the Knicks preseason who may have earned or lost rotation spots.
Loser: Evan Fournier
Evan Fournier signed a four-year deal with the Knicks in 2021 in hopes of him being a key contributor. After his first season, his minutes started to diminish and, in 2023, when the Knicks went to the nine-man rotation, he fell out of completely.
Fournier is a very talented player who averaged around 16 points per game from 2017 to 2022. His falling out of the rotation was a big deal. The thing that really hurt him was that the Knicks had a top-five record in the league when he stopped playing.
He has been using this past offseason and preseason to really prove why he should be put back in the rotation. The two most important things for him to be back in the rotation are for him to be able to make his 3s and play defense.
In his first three games in the preseason, he's played pretty well. In the first game, he had 11 points, three rebounds and shot 3-of-7 from 3. In the second game, he had 15 points, four rebounds, shooting 6-of-10 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3. His third game was poor, scoring 10 points, two rebounds, shooting 3-of-10 from the field, and 1-of-4 from 3.
His first two games were pretty good which may make him seem like a winner but it actually makes him a loser. In his time on the court, the Knicks were outscored by 39 points and he has been one of the worst defenders this preseason.
That isn't enough to be in the Knicks rotation. Since they have a lot of talented guards coming off the bench, it makes it that much harder for him. It seems that he'll be out of the rotation to start the season but he may have played well enough to be traded to a team that wants him.