Danilo Gallinari, the Power Forward for the Boston Celtics has been diagnosed with a torn ACL in his left knee, the team announced on Friday. The player will likely miss around six to 12 months of playing time.

However, he is eyeing a late-season return to the team, as reported by ESPN.

Also Read: NBA: When is Boston Celtics’ Danilo Gallinari expected to return after ACL tear

The player previously also suffered the same injury in 2013 and had to miss the following season as he had surgeries to treat his injured ACL.

Who is Danilo Gallinari?

Danilo Gallinari is an Italian professional basketball player who currently plays for the NBA‘s Boston Celtics . The New York Knicks selected Gallinari as the sixth overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft.

Gallinari was born on August 8, 1988 in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, a province, located 30kms southeast of the country’s capital, Milan. His father, Vittorio Gallinari, also played professional basketball in the Italian league for Olimpia Milano,  Virtus Bologna, and Scaligera Basket Verona.

Also Read: Who was Kobe Bryant?

NBA Career: –

The New York Knicks selected Gallinari sixth overall in the 2008 NBA draft. He then agreed to terms with the team on a two-year contract worth $6.2 million. The second year of the deal was a team option.

Just one game into his debut season, it was announced by the Knicks that he would likely miss the entire season because of back problems. He, however, returned to the team as they lost against the Philadelphia 76ers on January 17. On October 23, 2009, the team picked up his second-year option. 

Gallinari was traded to the Denver Nuggets on February 22, 2011, as part of a three-team deal that also included the Minnesota Timberwolves and brought Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to New York.

Also Read: Who is Kevin Durant?

He returned to Italy to play for Emporio Armani Milan during the 2011 NBA lockout.

Gallinari was forced to miss the rest of the 2012-13 season due to an ACL injury on April 5, 2013. The same injury also forced him to miss the 2013-14 season. Gallinari returned for the Nuggets on October 29, 2014, scoring seven points on 1-of-8 shooting in a season-opening win over the Detroit Pistons. On March 22, 2015, Gallinari scored a career-high 40 points on 12-of-21 shooting in a 119-100 win over the Orlando Magic. Gallinari signed a two-year contract extension with the Nuggets on August 3, 2015.

The Los Angeles Clippers acquired Gallinari from the Denver Nuggets on July 6, 2017 as part of a three-team trade that sent Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone, and the Clippers’ 2018 protected first-round draft pick (via Houston) to the Atlanta Hawks and a 2019 second-round draft pick from Atlanta (via Washington) to Denver. Gallinari made his Clippers debut on October 19, scoring 11 points in a 108-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Gallinari scored 20 or more points in nine consecutive games in March 2019, the best scoring streak of his career.

Also Read: The Redeem Team: All about LeBron James’ basketball documentary

The Clippers traded Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, five first-round draft picks, and the right to swap two additional first-round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder on July 10, 2019. Gallinari was acquired by the Atlanta Hawks on November 24, 2020, in exchange for a conditional 2025 second-round pick in a three-year, $61.4 million sign and trade contract.

Gallinari came up with a key steal from Joel Embiid and a dunk in the final minute of Game 7 of the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers, extending Atlanta’s lead to six, as the Hawks reached their first Eastern Conference Final since 2015 and their only second since relocating to Atlanta.

Gallinari was traded to the San Antonio Spurs on June 30, 2022, along with multiple future first-round picks, for Dejounte Murray and Jock Landale. However, Gallinari was waived by the Spurs on July 8 and on 12 July 2022, Gallinari signed a two-year, $13.3M deal with the Boston Celtics.

For his NBA career, the player has played in 728 matches, scoring points at an average of 

15.6 per game and has 1.9 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game. He has also shot at a decent field-goal percentage of 42.8 and 38.2%, 3-point %.