Danilo Gallinari’s ACL injury has created a few problems for the Boston Celtics. Since it’s not confirmed he’ll be out for the season, the Cs won’t be able to apply for a disabled player exception. Still, it’s hard to envision the 34-year-old suiting up after re-tearing the same ACL he suffered an injury on in 2013.
Since Boston can’t replace Gallinari directly via the disabled player exception, finding a free agent forward capable of picking up the slack has been their goal in the aftermath of the ‘Rooster’ going down in FIBA competition. That has led them to Jake Layman, who is nowhere near the shooter Gallo is and won’t make the team unless he can improve drastically from beyond the arc.
Should the season start and the depth issues persist, it’s possible that Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens can look into packaging Gallinari’s contract with other minimum deals to acquire a player–MassLive’s Brian Robb specifically suggests a big man in such a scenario–making an upwards of $10 million.
Heavy’s Jack Simone came up with a trade proposal, one which would need to be executed mid-season when the moratorium for trading recently-traded players is lifted, that would land a combo forward capable of relieving Al Horford at the 4 in the same manner Gallinari would have in his latest mock trade proposal:
"Celtics receive: Kelly Oubre Jr.Hornets receive: Danilo Gallinari, Luke Kornet, minimum contract player, 2025 1st-Round Pick (Top-20 Protected)"
The Boston Celtics could be landing another Dennis Schroder if they acquired Kelly Oubre Jr.
Dennis Schroder was signed in the summer of 2021 with the hopes that he could provide contract-year production as a hired gun for the Boston Celtics. While he put up big numbers when he’d fill in as a starter during the COVID-19 Omicron-cursed first-half of last season, he ultimately didn’t contribute enough to team basketball.
Kelly Oubre Jr. feels like he can end up being a similar asset as a short-term gain but long-term liability, but what’s scary about acquiring him is that there’d be limited time to figure out his fit with the trade deadline in February.
If Boston is desparate and starts off slower than expected, and especially if the bench scoring is suffering from the lack of a talent like intended second-unit scoring ace Danilo Gallinari, Oubre makes sense. Otherwise, the Cs may be better off looking elsewhere.