Boston Celtics: Evan Fournier viewed as ‘ambitious free-agent target’

The Boston Celtics will have their work cut out for them this offseason trying to figure out ways in which they can re-insert themselves back into the conversation of upper-echelon of teams in the Eastern Conference.

In other words: new President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, is going to be a very busy man over the next few months.

Not only does he have to find a new head coach to replace him on the sidelines for the 2021-22 season, but the franchise seems likely to be heading towards a breakup with point guard, Kemba Walker, which will require the newly minted President to try his luck in the trading game as well.

Add on the fact that the Cs will need to navigate the free agency market with little spending money due to their over-inflated salary situation and Stevens finds himself in the midst of an absolutely grueling situation in his first stint serving as a front office personality.

Easily the biggest name slated to hit the open market that has been linked to the Boston Celtics as a target is Evan Fournier, who was traded to Beantown at the March 25th trade deadline and, due to the fact that they own his Bird rights, can re-sign him without having them become subject to the luxury tax.

A sharpshooter with a career average 3-point percentage of 38 percent, during his 16-games played during the regular season with the team, Fournier posted per-game averages of 13 points and 3.3 rebounds on 45 percent shooting from the field and 46 percent shooting from deep.

During this past postseason, he upped his scoring averages even higher, as he logged 15.4 points and 3.6 rebounds on impressive shooting splits of 43 percent shooting from both the floor and from deep.

To some, due to the team’s salary situation, the idea of re-upping Fournier to a new deal seems a bit like a no-brainer. However, according to the folks at Bleacher Report, such an idea seems a bit ‘ambitious.’

Citing his production from this past season coupled with the lofty contract he’ll likely command, writer Dan Favale believes that it won’t be an easy task to accomplish for the Boston Celtics to bring back the 28-year-old wing:

"His partial-season stint in Beantown wasn’t the smoothest—he missed time with COVID-19—but he gave the Celtics 15.4 points per game while nailing 43.3 percent of his triples during the playoffs and is an ideal complement to an offense spearheaded by the Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.Retaining him won’t come cheap. He should net somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 to $16 million annually. Even if he fetches less than expected, the Celtics’ iffy tax situation renders his future a wild card. Sources told Bleacher Report’s Farbod Esnaashari that Boston and Walker both want a divorce. Moving him—and cutting costs in the process—is probably critical to re-signing Fournier."

Like we said, Brad Stevens will have his work cut out for him this summer as President of Basketball Operations and, should he wish to bring Evan Fournier back to the Boston Celtics for next season, he’ll need to pull out all the stops to simply try to make the money work.