Under the Radar: Evan Fournier

Throughout every NBA season, there are players who continually get recognized for their success on the court. While these players receive the spotlight, there are a number of underappreciated players who have career years that end up going seemingly unnoticed. For the 2019-2020 NBA season, Evan Fournier is one of these players. 

Fournier came into this season already having been underappreciated. In the previous season, the Orlando Magic finally made the stride they’ve been waiting for and fought their way into the playoffs. Fournier was instrumental to this team’s success, but most of the credit was given to all-star Nikola Vucevic and high flyer Aaron Gordon.

It wasn’t much of a surprise that when the Magic were brought up, Fournier’s name rarely was mentioned. Most of the hype around this Magic squad was taken up by Markelle Fultz’s return, Aaron Gordon’s exquisite dunking ability and Nikola Vucevic’s subtle but effective offensive scoring. Fournier started off a bit shaky, but eventually turned up his game to have a state line of 19 points, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds per game. Not only is this the most points Fournier has ever averaged in his career, he has been arguably the most pivotal role in the Orlando Magic’s quest back to the playoffs. Without his scoring ability, it’s unknown whether or not Orlando would even be in the playoffs.

Fournier stepped up when his team needed him most and that is one of the most admirable traits a player can have. Fournier realized that his team needed more out of him in order to succeed with the detrimental injury to Jonathan Isaac, so he did just that. He averaged 4 more points compared to last year and shot better from the field. This career year for Evan Fournier certainly went under the radar.