BOSTON (AP) — The Celtics finalized a sign-and-trade with the Knicks on Tuesday, sending guard Evan Fournier along with a 2023 second-round draft pick and conditional 2022 second-round pick to New York in exchange for cash considerations.
The deal also generated a trade exception for Boston.
Fournier agreed to his new $78 million, four-year deal with the Knicks hours after the official start of the free agency signing period earlier this month.
Boston hoped to re-sign Fournier, who it acquired from Orlando at the trade deadline for a pair of second-round draft picks, but was limited by its efforts to stay under the luxury tax threshold. Those efforts were lessened some after the Celtics traded the remainder of the four-year, $140 million deal they gave point guard Kemba Walker in 2019 to Oklahoma City in June.
The Celtics were unwilling to outbid the Knicks’ offer in the end. In a twist, Walker is also headed to New York after agreeing to a buyout with the Thunder and signing a two-year, $17.8 million deal.
The hope had been that Fournier would give Boston some wing depth and another ball handler. But his arrival and integration into the Celtics’ system was immediately stunted by stints on the COVID-19 list, limiting him to 16 games.
At the time of his trade from Orlando he was averaging career highs of 19.7 points and 3.7 assists per game. But his output shrunk to 13 points and 3.1 assists over the remainder of the season.
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