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Former Boston Celtics free agent addition Danilo Gallinari will become a free agent again. After the NBA Trade Deadline passed, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the Detroit Pistons waived Gallinari via his X account on February 8.
The Pistons are waiving forward Danilo Gallinari, sources tell me and @JLEdwardsIII. Gallinari is expected to begin free-agent meetings on Friday.
Once Gallinari clears waivers, he will be free to choose whichever team he wants outside of the Wizards. NESN’s Gio Rivera explained why Gallinari should return to the Celtics in a February 8 story.
“Similar to Al Horford’s past situation with the Oklahoma City Thunder a few years back, Gallinari doesn’t have much of a purpose for a team that isn’t in a position to contend. Whereas on a team like the Celtics, his minutes off the bench would be much more valuable, especially once the playoffs begin.
“Presumably, the market for Gallinari won’t be all that hot with plenty of buyout candidates to choose from, but that doesn’t mean the Celtics can’t pull off a last-minute snag.”
Rivera also described Gallinari as “a key reserve unit addition, supplying both size and outside shooting to a title-contending Celtics team” when Boston first added him in 2022 before he suffered a season-ending ACL tear in 2022.
When the Celtics traded Danilo Gallianri, they could not legally re-acquire him for a year because of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. The CBA prohibits players from reuniting with their previous team immediately after said team traded them. However, that rule was nullified in the Celtics’ case with Gallinari once the Wizards traded him to the Pistons. Doing so
Danilo Gallinari ‘Didn’t Expect’ Trade
Danilo Gallinari explained the process of events to MassLive’s Garrett Cote when the Celtics told him that he had been traded.
“I had a meeting with the team probably three, four days before the trade, and the meeting was a little different – the reason why I didn’t expect the trade,” Gallinari said in a July 6, 2023 story. “I’ve been through it before many times, it’s just the craziness about the NBA sometimes. It was pretty quick and unexpected.”
Gallinari added that he didn’t see it coming in the slightest.
“It happened very quick,” Gallinari said. “I didn’t expect it. I didn’t know it was gonna happen.”
Gallinari only played 26 games for the Wizards before they traded him and six games for the Pistons before they waived him. In 32 games combined, he’s averaged 7.3 points while shooting 45.1% from the field and 35.5% from three.
Danilo Gallinari Believes He Could Have Helped Celtics
Danilo Gallinari never for the chance to prove himself for the Celtics. He believes that had he been healthy, he could have helped the Celtics beat the Heat in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals.
“Just the way that they played defense, the way that they prepared the game against us, I thought that offensively I could have helped the team a lot,” Gallinari told The Athletic’s Jay King in a November 1, 2023 story. “Especially playing against their zone.”
Gallinari’s statement has some merit. At 6’10” and with his abilities to space the floor, he could have been the Celtics’ answer against Miami. Kristaps Porzingis has had success against the Heat because of his height and his shooting abilities.