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Draymond Green Show: Draymond reacts to Danilo Gallinari's comments on Kawhi Leonard "I think wishing the NBA took $50 million from a player is disgusting... that also wasn't his first time being traded, so for him to sit and act as if Kawhi Leonard ruined his career, that's bulls**t... I think Gallinari would choose Paul George over himself and if you won't, that's crazy, that's ridiculous... Kawhi Leonard does not have the power to trade a player, he can request... but he don't have the ability to make that trade."
Danilo Gallinari: "That was the first time where I got traded not because of an owner or GM or coach situation or request. It was clearly a player request that didn't like what he saw. He wanted his friend or whatever relationship was there with Paul George, and so that was what I didn't like. I didn't say anything bad."
Danilo Gallinari: I didn't say I was the the biggest. I was one of the biggest what if because and I'm gonna tell you my four what if and I'm going to let you think about it and see what you guys think. What if I don't get injured my first year as a rookie in New York and I don't get back surgery my first year in New York. What if I don't tore my ACL? I don't tour my ACL in my prime, my third year in Denver as the best player of the team and one of the best teams in the league. What if I don't te my I don't turn my ACL in Boston and I miss the whole season in Boston?
Danilo Gallinari strongly criticized the $700,000 fine imposed on Kawhi Leonard by the NBA. “He should pay all of that $50 million,” Gallinari said on the A Cresta Alta podcast. “He changed the trajectory of my career and put me in a difficult situation by sending me away from Los Angeles.” Gallinari left the Clippers in 2019 as part of the trade that brought Paul George to Los Angeles, a move that helped secure Leonard’s arrival. “What happened to my NBA career wasn’t decided by a general manager or an owner, but by a player who decided that team wasn’t good enough and wanted something else.”
The Italian acknowledged that the move to Oklahoma City ultimately worked out well for both himself and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but maintained his position: “He should give that money to charity. He should pay all $50 million, not just $700,000.”
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Do you ever think about how your career might have differed if you had stayed in New York and the Carmelo Anthony trade never happened? Danilo Gallinari: No, I sometimes talk about it. 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.
When you played alongside Nikola Jokic in Denver, did you sense that he would become a superstar? Danilo Gallinari: Yeah, I knew he was gonna be a great player. I didn't know he was gonna be a three-time MVP, but I knew he was gonna be a great player, and you could see that the franchise wanted to go in that direction. And it was great to be part of winning teams in Denver, but it was also great to be part of a rebuilding situation. My situation never changed because I was always playing in the starting lineup and being the best player on the team. So nothing changed for me, but it was all great to see these young players develop.
Who was your GOAT growing up? Danilo Gallinari: Michael Jordan. Why is that? DG: Because I guess I grew up in an area where all of us were MJ fans. So it was the guy, and he's still the guy in my opinion.
Who are your current top five players in the league? Danilo Gallinari: Current Top 5, I always, I guess I always go with the old heads first: Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James. And then I put Anthony Edwards and Nikola Jokic.
Who are your all-time Top 5 players? Danilo Gallinari: I would go with John Stockton; at two, MJ; at three, LeBron James, then Bill Russell, and Jokic.
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What was your reaction to being traded to Oklahoma City in the Paul George deal. Did you see superstar potential in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander early on, similar to what you saw in Jokic? Danilo Gallinari: Yeah, you could see it from Shai too that he was going to be a very, very good player. I was older, so I wasn't shocked as I was for my first trade. So I took it just as business, you know, going to the other city and just going to play basketball in another city for another team, so I wasn't as shocked as the New York trade.
After the Melo trade, did you feel you had to justify being traded for him, and how did you face the challenges in Denver, including the 57-win season, George Karl's Coach of the Year award, and his subsequent departure? Danilo Gallinari: Yeah, when Masai Ujiri and coach Karl talk about it, they blame it on me because I tore my ACL right before the playoffs that season, and then we lost against Golden State, and we were supposed to go all the way to the Finals, and so after the season, if I don't get injured, the season goes differently, and coach Karl being the Coach of the Year and Masai being the GM of the Year maybe they have a different path. The Nuggets have a different path, but that's another huge what-if. But I had a great time in Denver; it was the only team that I played for more than two years. I played there six and a half seasons, so it's definitely the city and the team that I'm closer to. And so I had a great time in Denver.
How did your game evolve after the back injury and first ACL tear? How did you reinvent yourself post-knee injury? Danilo Gallinari: Well, I'm fortunate, of course. I was a great athlete before I got all these injuries, but I was very gifted skills-wise, and so my skills helped me hide a little bit of the wear and tear that my injuries gave to my body. And so there is basketball. There are so many things that you can do, especially offensively, to just make sure that you are an effective player without jumping and dunking like LeBron James. I was always that player in Denver, and so it was great to be able to just be free and play for all those years. Unfortunately, I have never experienced probably my prime because I don't know what my prime could have been. I had back surgery my rookie year, and then I would say my prime was in Denver. When I was in my prime, I had the ACL, so after that, yes, you can come back and still be a very good athlete and player, but I don't know if you can still experience what your prime could have been without injuries. But I definitely had a great time in Denver.
From your perspective, was that game where Trae Young sent New York home as wild as everyone makes it seem? Danilo Gallinari: Trae played amazingly. I think that we got to the playoffs with so much confidence that, especially winning the first game in New York, gives you another boost of confidence, and we had the confidence that we could win against everybody.