Getty Luigi Datome #70 of the Boston Celtics.
When the Boston Celtics announced that they had signed Danilo Gallinari on July 12, 2022, Gallinari got a shout-out from a familiar face for Celtics fans. Luigi Datome, who briefly played for the Celtics back in 2015, shouted out Gallinari after he agreed to join the team, saying that it is more beautiful to be a Celtic while also making a joke about Gallinari’s legacy.
Translating Datome’s words, the former Celtic said, “Today, it is more beautiful to be a Celtic. You have an important legacy to defend, but you’ll manage.”
Gallinari soon responded to Datome, saying that, in spite of only being with the Celtics for half a season, Datome still gets mentioned in Boston.
@GigiDatome @celtics Qui ancora parlano di te super @GigiDatome ☘️💪❤️
Translating Gallinari’s words, the newest Celtic said, “They still talk about you here, super Luigi!”
The Celtics acquired Datome alongside Jonas Jerebko from the Detroit Pistons for Tayshaun Prince in 2015. In the 18 games Datome played for the Celtics, he averaged 5.2 points while shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 47.2 percent from three. While Jerebko went on to play two more seasons for the Celtics, Datome went back to Italy that very summer.
Gallinari and Datome have played together on multiple Italian National Basketball teams dating back to the 2011 Italian Eurobasket team.
Italian Basketball Players Who Have Played in the NBA
Datome and Gallinari are two of the three Italian basketball players who have ever been associated with the Celtics in the franchise’s 76-year history dating back to 1946. However, Datome and Gallinari are two of only 11 Italian basketball players who have ever played in the NBA. The other Italian basketball players who have played in the NBA in alphabetical order include:
-Andrea Bargnani
-Marco Belinelli
-Hank Biasatti
-Mike D’Antoni
-Travis Diener
-Vincenzo Esposito
-Nico Mannion
-Nicolò Melli
-Stefano Rusconi
For the record, some of these players were born and raised in the United States but have Italian roots.
The first Italian player to be associated with the Celtics was Biasatti, who was drafted by the team in 1947, back when the NBA was originally called the Basketball Association of America, but never played for the team.
Among the more notable Italian players are D’Antoni, Bargnani, and Belinelli. D’Antoni played in the league for three years, from 1973 to 1976, but he made a better name for himself as an NBA coach due to his success with the Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets, among others. Bargnani is the only Italian player to be drafted first overall in the NBA, which he was in 2006 by the Toronto Raptors. As of July 16, 2022, Belinelli has played the most NBA games out of all Italian players, playing 860 in total. He is also the only Italian player to win an NBA championship, which he did with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.
Gallinari Grew Up a Celtics Fan
During his introductory press conference on July 12, Gallinari said that both he and his father grew up as Celtics fans, and more specifically, of Larry Bird.
“I grew up with my dad since I was a little kid being a Celtics fan, being a Larry Bird fan, so when the Celtics came on the table, it was almost like a no-brainer. You walk even in this facility, you look around and see what’s going on around the banners and the history and everything the Celtics are about. It was an easy choice.”
.@gallinari8888 bleeds green ☘️
When it had been announced that Gallinari was going to join the Celtics after he cleared waivers, a photo of him in a Celtics jumpsuit went viral.
17 year old Danilo Gallinari wearing Celtics green jumpsuit. (2005)
Celtics were his favorite NBA team as a kid, and 17 years later he is set to become a Boston Celtic.
Gallinari confirmed after his introductory press conference in an interview with Chris Forsberg that the picture was authentic.
Gallinari also said on his personal Twitter account that Boston was where he had always dreamed of playing.
