SAN ANTONIO — If Evan Fournier and Cam Reddish couldn’t find their way back to the Knicks’ shorthanded playing rotation in Tuesday’s giveaway loss in Dallas, then when?
The two buried regulars didn’t get off the bench yet again, even with Jalen Brunson sidelined with a hip injury and RJ Barrett leaving the game less than two minutes into the first quarter with a lacerated index finger.
Tom Thibodeau went with eight players the rest of the way, including recently benched veteran guard Derrick Rose, but Fournier missed his 22nd straight game since his last appearance on Nov. 13 and Reddish sat for the 12th straight game since Dec. 3.
“Not surprised, especially because the guys on the floor were playing well. Cam and I actually talked on the bench. Like, we already knew, so not surprised,” Fournier said after the game.
“I’m gonna be 1,000 percent honest with you. You [in the media] probably know more about that than me. I have no idea. None,” Reddish added. “I’m just trying to stay ready, continue to work on my game and obviously just trust in God, man.
“I don’t have any control over s–t, so I can’t do too much thinking, or I’ll think myself into misery. You know how that goes. That’s just human nature. I just try to stay in the gym and work out and go from there.”
Fournier, who is earning $18 million this season, and Reddish, who was acquired from Atlanta for a first-round draft pick in February, will continue to be shopped ahead of the Feb. 9 trade deadline.
Asked if he’s discussed trade possibilities with the front office, Fournier replied: “No, not at all. It’s been what, six weeks now that I’m not playing. I’ve been preaching patience. It’s starting to be a little long. But maybe there’s going to be an opportunity. I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Rather than dust off Fournier and Reddish and use them in Dallas with Brunson and Barrett unavailable, Thibodeau played four players at least 44 minutes apiece in the overtime loss — Immanuel Quickley (50:38), Quentin Grimes (48:20), Miles McBride (46:06) and Julius Randle (44:49).
When asked if he considered expanding his rotation after Barrett departed, Thibodeau replied, “I was more concerned with how we were matched up with them. We try to match up a certain way. I thought we played well. We didn’t close out the last 30 seconds of the game.”
The Knicks flushed a nine-point lead with 33.9 seconds remaining in regulation and looked gassed thereafter, missing 8 of 10 field-goal attempts in overtime. Dallas star Luka Doncic finished the game with the first 60-point, 21-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in NBA history.
Fournier added there “was no reason” for the coaching staff to discuss with him his diminished role while Brunson and Barrett were healthy, but he wondered if “maybe it’s about to change” if either or both players remain unavailable for games on this Texas trip on Thursday against the Spurs and Saturday against the Rockets
“I’m the same guy, you know? What do you want me to say? I don’t know what to say. Yeah, it sucks not playing. It sucks,” Fournier said. “You know what, the thing that’s actually hard, if you stay ready and you do the things just in case you’re going to play…That’s the part that’s actually challenging is when you don’t play, finding the right amount of work for you to stay ready.”
