Getty #8 Danilo Gallinari of the Italy National Team
There’s a solid chance Danilo Gallinari may never suit up for the Boston Celtics during the 2022-23 season. After tearing his ACL in late August, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Gallinari’s recovery timeline could range from six to 12 months.
Should Gallinari not play at all, the Celtics could entertain the possibility of trading him. According to Spotrac, Gallinari’s contract becomes trade eligible on Dec. 15. Gallinari will make $6.4 million this season, so his contract could be used to acquire a rotation player. However, an Eastern Conference executive revealed to Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney why it would be a bad idea for the Celtics to trade Gallinari.
“They can’t trade Gallinari,” the exec said. “I mean, they could, but it would hurt their reputations among players and agents. They sign a guy who really wanted to be there, and he gets hurt, so you dump him? That is a bit too cold. They have been smart to play Sam Hauser, but that does not mean they will move Gallinari.”
The exec then explained why it would be hard for them to trade Gallinari even if they wanted to trade him.
“It would be tough anyway because he has an option for next year.”
Gallinari Took Less Money to Sign With Boston
Jared Weiss of The Athletic reported that Gallinari turned down more money from the Chicago Bulls to play for the Celtics. Because Gallinari’s made plenty of money over the course of his 14-year NBA career, the amount of money being offered to him did not play much of a factor, according to Weiss.
“As Gallinari looked for a new home after the Hawks traded him to the Spurs and he agreed to a buyout, coming to Boston felt like a golden opportunity. He turned down more money in Chicago to take the Celtics’ $13.3 million offer over the next two seasons, which isn’t too hard a choice considering the 33-year-old will still hit $200 million in career earnings when his deal expires in 2024,” Weiss said.
In addition to the $6.4 million dollars he will make while playing for the Celtics, Gallinari will make an additional $13 million from the San Antonio Spurs. Before being waived by the Spurs, the partial guarantee on his contract was bumped up from $5 million to $13 million, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN.
Danilo Gallinari has been waived by the Spurs, sources tell ESPN. Friday was the last day for Gallinari to be waived before his $21.5M contract would have become guaranteed. His guaranteed amount was amended from $5M to $13M as part of the trade to San Antonio.
Gallinari’s Shown Support and Posted Rehab Videos
Since tearing his ACL, Gallinari has posted multiple videos detailing the workouts he has to do while rehabbing his knee following getting surgery to repair his torn ACL.
Getting ready…to do housework 🤣🤣🤣🏡
Looking for my balance 💪☘️
Gallinari tore the same ACL nine years ago when he played for the Denver Nuggets, so he’s been through a process like this before.
On top of posting videos of his rehab, Gallinari has also shown support for his team from the sidelines whenever they have come up victorious thus far this season.
He’s even shown support for the team when they’re coming off of a loss.
Even though he won’t be able to play for a while, Gallinari is clearly showing how much he values being involved with the Celtics despite not being able to play for them.