BOSTON (AP) – The Celtics signed and trade with the Knicks on Tuesday, sending security guard Evan Fournier to New York for cash along with a second-round draft pick for 2023 and a conditional second-round pick for 2022.
The deal also resulted in a trading exemption for Boston.
Fournier agreed to his new $ 78 million, four-year deal with the Knicks hours after the free agency officially began signing earlier this month.
Boston was hoping to re-sign Fournier, whom it acquired for two second-round draft picks at Orlando close of trading, but was constrained by its efforts to stay below the luxury tax threshold. Those efforts were eased somewhat after the Celtics traded the remainder of the four-year $ 140 million deal they gave Oklahoma City as point guard Kemba Walker in June 2019.
In the end, the Celtics didn’t want to outbid the Knicks’ offer. In a twist, Walker also heads to New York after agreeing to a buyout with The Thunder and signing a two-year deal for $ 17.8 million.
The hope had been that Fournier would give Boston some wing chord and another ball handler. But his arrival and integration into the Celtics’ system was immediately slowed down by stops on the COVID-19 list, limiting him to 16 games.
At the time of his Orlando trade, he had average career highs of 19.7 points and 3.7 assists per game. But his performance dwindled to 13 points and 3.1 assists over the course of the season.
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