NY Knicks: 3 Eastern Conference Rivals who upgraded at the trade deadline

NY Knicks: The Boston Celtics add Evan Fournier for low cost

Before I get into the Celtics, it must be pointed out that the Orlando Magic were a big provider for the elevation in talent that a lot of teams received this past Thursday. I’ll get to the blockbuster in the next passage; but aside from this deal, Orlando also traded Aaron Gordon to the Denver Nuggets making it three starters the Magic dealt in a span of hours, officially solidifying the fact that they are commencing a rebuild.

The Evan Fournier trade here is smart, however. With the French product on the last year of his contract and the current state of the team, it was highly unlikely at best that he was going to re-sign with the team in the offseason. Dealing him to a playoff team like Boston ensured that they’d receive something for his departure.

Evan Fournier provides shooting off the bench for the Celtics, an area of the team they were severely lacking. While Boston has stars like Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown in their starting lineup, their bench ‘shooters’ consisted of guys like Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard.

While Pritchard does shoot 41% from three, he takes less than three long balls a game. With the addition of Fournier, the C’s gain a 39% three-ball shooter who takes over 4.5 a game and simply gets a boost of offense in their second unit. The Knicks play the Celtics two more times this season including the regular season finale at MSG. While the NY Knicks defense is ranked towards the top of the league, Fournier is without a doubt going to make Boston’s offense even tougher to handle.