Balance sheet time. A few days after leaving Jakarta, after unrelenting classification matches, Evan Fournier returns, through social networks, to the failure of the French team at the Basketball World Cup. Scattered like a puzzle by Canada (65-95), the Blues had taken the door after their defeat against Latvia (86-88), in the second game. An unexpected fiasco, while the Olympic and European vice-champions arrived in Indonesia with big ambitions. “Since 2019, this group has been fighting to put French basketball at the highest level in the world. With success. This year, we failed in our mission. It’s a huge disappointment for us players, and a huge disappointment for you fans. We’re sorry about that. For several days we have all been looking for explanations. It is essential to find solutions and bounce back next year, ”insists the Knicks player, who celebrated his 100th cap in selection just before the World Cup.
Solutions that could be diverse, with already the expected return of Victor Wembanyama, even the arrival of naturalized Joel Embiid for the Paris Olympics. The future of Vincent Collet questions. “Some speak of arrogance or sufficiency, the reality is that we just haven’t been up to it, insists the former Poitiers. This is sometimes the harsh reality of high level sport, and you have to accept it. It is a collective failure, a failure in which none of us seeks to shirk its share of responsibility. Me first. Neither disrespect nor finger pointing will help us get back on our feet.” And to add: “Even though certain media or certain personalities seem strangely to rejoice in our failure, nothing should disunite us. We love this French team and we will continue to fight for it. We’ve done you proud in the past three campaigns, and I still believe this group still has some magic to give.”
Despite leaving the track in the first round of the World Cup, the France team is obviously automatically qualified for the 2024 Olympics. It will probably be with Fournier, 30, who shot 13.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists in the World Cup (5 matches). He notably split 21 and 27 points in the first two matches, against Canada and Latvia, before registering only two points against Iran and Côte d’Ivoire.
