RJ Barrett might have to pump the brakes on his trash talk after his performance on Friday.
Ahead of Team Canada’s matchup against France in the FIBA World Cup Group H opener on Friday, Barrett had been dialing up his smack talk against his Knicks teammate — admitting he was “talking trash to Evan Fournier every day for a while now.”
But during the game, which Barrett’s Team Canada handily won by 30 points, the Duke product managed just five points on 1-of-10 shooting while Fournier notched 21 points on 8-of-19 from the floor to lead France.
Fournier outmatching Barrett didn’t mean much for the final score, however, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led a balanced attack with 27 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists as Canada beat the Frenchmen 95-65.
Barrett did add six rebounds and five assists to go along with his woeful shooting night, but it was clearly Gilgeous-Alexander’s show on Friday.
Fournier managed just two points in the second half after he exploded during the first 20 minutes for 19 points.
The French sharpshooter, who signed a four-year, $73 million deal in a sign-and-trade to the Knicks in 2021, has become a Knicks outcast after he was jettisoned from the team’s rotation last season and blasted the squad in the media.
“I would be shot. I’m going to be traded, it’s not possible otherwise,” Fournier told the French outlet L’Equipe in July, translated from French. “Or I’d be stuck, and so would they. They have several players with big contracts coming in. Unless they want to pay a crazy luxury tax.
“If I stayed, it would be a disaster basketball-wise for my career. I can manage a year without playing. Two, that would be terrible.”
Fournier averaged just six points a contest last year after he saw his playing time plummet — he played in just 27 games and started in seven after starting all 80 games during the 2021-22 campaign.
