Former Celtics Forward Thinks He Could Be NBA's Biggest What-If image
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Danilo Gallinari has NBA fans talking.
The 14-year NBA veteran touched on many topics in a recent interview with HoopsHype, from who his GOAT is to what he learned playing with a young Nikola Jokic. But there's one particular thing Gallinari mentioned that has sparked a debate online.
When asked if he thinks about how different his career would've been had the New York Knicks not traded him, Gallinari said he's "probably the biggest what-if guy in the history of the game."
"No, I sometimes talk about it," he said. "I think about it just with friends and family when we sometimes talk about basketball and my career. We think about it, or when I come back to New York and I talk to my fans or people in New York that still work for the Knicks, we talk about it, but there is a lot of, unfortunately, because of my injuries, there is a lot of what-if in my career. I don't know, I'm probably the biggest what-if guy in the history of the game, maybe. But it's part of an NBA career. It happened to me, unfortunately, more than any other athlete probably, as far as injuries, but I don't think about it too much.
Gallinari had a long NBA career, but two ACL injuries kept him from reaching his full potential.
He first tore his left ACL in 2013 while with the Denver Nuggets. He then tore his left ACL again in 2022 while playing for the Italian national team.
The second ACL tear prevented Gallinari from ever playing a game with the Boston Celtics, with whom he signed a two-year, $13.3 million contract. Less than a year after signing that deal, Boston traded him to the Washington Wizards.
Gallinari's best season came in 2018-19 when he averaged 19.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for the LA Clippers while shooting 43.3 percent from 3-point range. He last played in the NBA in 2023-24.
Gallinari ended up playing for eight NBA teams and posted career averages of 14.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.
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Who is the biggest what-if in NBA history?
This is what everyone is now debating.
Is it Gallinari? With respect to how good a player he was and could have been, probably not. Some of the first players who come to mind are Derrick Rose, Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill.
Rose became the youngest MVP in NBA history, but tore his ACL the following season and was never the same.
Roy played only 52 games after his last All-Star selection because of knee injuries.
Oden was the No. 1 pick in a draft that had Kevin Durant, but knee injuries limited him to just 105 regular-season games over five seasons.
McGrady and Hill are both Hall of Famers who could've reached even greater heights had injuries not robbed them of their primes.
Maybe Gallinari could have been a multi-time All-Star were it not for his injuries, but it's hard to put him in the same category as some of those players.
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