NY Knicks: Grading New York’s 2021 Free Agency Class

NY Knicks Free agency Grade for Evan Fournier signing – B

Evan Fournier projects to be the team’s opening night starting Shooting Guard.

The Knicks replaced sharpshooter Reggie Bullock with another sharpshooter in Evan Fournier, but at a far steeper price.

While Fournier is a more well-rounded scorer than Bullock, it will be difficult to make the case that he is worth over $40 million more than what Bullock signed for.

Contract aside, the Knicks did add a player in Fournier who will give the Knicks offense, especially in the shooting category, a major upgrade.

According to Sports Reference, last season with two different teams, he averaged 17.1 points per game on 41.3% from three.

He dealt with the struggle of changing teams mid-season and having to learn a new system and still managed to maintain incredible shooting numbers.

While he provides the Knicks with an instant upgrade offensively, he also isn’t known to be a great defender.

The need for offense this offseason was extremely apparent after last season’s end, so the Knicks did what they needed to do.

Playing devil’s advocate, considering the money elite shooters are getting in the current free-agent market, i.e., Joe Harris and Duncan Robinson, they needed to take an aggressive approach to get the shooter that they wanted.

Fournier also does have a very team-friendly contract, being that the final year is a team option, which makes him an appealing trading piece.

In one of the more underwhelming free agent classes of recent memory, the Knicks gave a great shooter a team-friendly contract filling a hole in three-point shooting that was the demise of their playoff run last season.