Though the 2024 Olympics haven’t started yet, there have already been a few contentious incidents, one involving two former Boston Celtics players.
Dennis Schroder and Evan Fournier got into a furious altercation during a France-Germany exhibition game after Fournier fouled Schroder while he was driving to the basket. In the first half of France’s 90-66 triumph, the two former Celtics players engaged in a brief altercation before teammates intervened to break it up.
France’s Fournier fouled Schroder, who drove the lane during an Olympic demonstration on Saturday, July 6, with his side leading 41-23 late in the first half. Following the forceful takedown, Schroder stood up and confronted Fournier.
When Schroder seemed to reach for Fournier, the latter responded by briefly strangling Schroder until teammates intervened to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. Referees tossed Fournier after the two players calmed down.
Fournier concluded his day with five points in his eight minutes of play, while Schroder finished the game with 23 points in 28 minutes.
Victor Wembanyama of France stole the show, even though the first half of the play was dominated by the altercation. The best player for the San Antonio Spurs finished with 25 points in the crushing victory, making 10 of his 16 attempts from the field.
After making 29 appearances with the Detroit Pistons in the 2023–24 NBA season, Fournier is a free agent. He averaged 7.2 points per game with the Pistons.
In his twelve NBA seasons, Six-foot-6 swingman Fournier has been a member of five different teams. He played seven seasons with the Orlando Magic, where he averaged 16.2 points, throughout the majority of his career.
He played with the Celtics for a portion of the 2020–21 campaign, starting 10 of his 16 appearances. In his brief tenure in Boston, he averaged 13 points and drew 3.3 rebounds a game. In addition, Fournier had stints with the Denver Nuggets, where he started his NBA career, and the New York Knicks.
Schroder, like Fournier, has been up and down in the NBA and played for the Celtics for a portion of one season.
The six-foot-1 guard spent five seasons with the Atlanta Hawks when he first started playing in the NBA. After that, he played for the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder before suiting up for the Celtics in 2021–2022.
Schroder had 49 appearances with the Celtics, starting 25 of them. Boston was trying to add depth at the guard position after losing point guard Kemba Walker. Schroder scored 14.4 points per game on average while he was a member of the Celtics. In addition, he provided 4.2 assists. The Boston Celtics acquired center Daniel Theis back in February 2022 when they dealt Schroder to the Houston Rockets.
Schroder finished the season with the Rockets before returning for a second stint with the Lakers. During the 2023-24 season, Schroder split time between the Toronto Raptors and the Brooklyn Nets.