The Boston Celtics had a ton of potential to make some significant splashes at this year’s NBA trade deadline, with many publications believing they would wind up making a ‘big move.’
Ultimately, Danny Ainge and co. did NOT end up straying away from the norm during the deadline, as March 25th, to many, was just as underwhelming as the rest of their 2020-21 campaign.
The biggest name attained on the day was Orlando Magic sharpshooter, Evan Fournier, who was acquired for Jeff Teague and two future second-round picks. In actuality, the fact that the team brought on a near 20 point-per-game scorer who was converting on about 40 percent shooting from deep for this aforementioned package is quite impressive.
Despite an underwhelming debut, where he went 0-10 from the floor for a whopping zero points, the 28-year-old has slowly started to establish himself within the C’s rotation, as he’s boasting averages of 11.5 points, 1.8 assists, 1.8 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and just shy of a block per game on 42 percent shooting from the floor and 48 percent shooting from downtown.
However, even with his track record throughout the years coupled with his uptick in production as the days have gone by throughout his young tenure with Boston, the folks at Bleacher Report believe that, on the open market this coming offseason, opposing teams should be wary of pursuing the ninth-year wing.
B/R believes Evan Fournier of the Boston Celtics should be avoided in free agency
Citing his relatively stagnated progressions throughout his NBA career, coupled with his lacking track record of aiding in a team’s winning success, writer Mandela Namaste is under the impression that most teams should avoid Evan Fournier on the free agency market this summer:
"He’s averaged between 15.0 and 19.0 points per game, 2.6 and 3.2 rebounds per game and 2.7 and 3.6 assists per game in each of the last six seasons. Additionally, the 28-year-old has rarely been a notable contributor to winning basketball, as evidenced by the fact that he was never one of the Magic’s top five on/off-split players during his tenure (a stat that feels particularly telling, considering the team never advanced past the first round with him on the roster)."
Now, just because Namaste believes many teams should stay away from the veteran wing this coming offseason, this is not to say he believes Boston Celtics fans should be worried or upset about having him.
The article would correctly go on to say that on a team with other top-tier talents — like what the shamrocks have in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and, when healthy, Kemba Walker — a guy like Fournier is a great complimentary piece to have in tow.
Namaste’s main argument is that, though his per-game averages could entice a team to throw some big bucks his way on the open market, no team should consider him to be a main option.
Luckly with the Celtics, he would never be viewed as such.