The Boston Celtics will not be getting their marquee offseason free agent signing from this past summer, Danilo Gallinari, back from an ACL tear in time for the postseason according to MassLive’s Brian Robb.
While Gallinari has been seen around his Celtics teammates in recent weeks, it is apparently likely that his involvement with the team will be limited to just wearing warm-up gear and street clothes during the 2022-23 season.
In answering a reader’s question in his latest Boston Celtics Mailbag, Robb gave Gallinari a minimal percentage of returning to the team in time for the playoffs next June:
"“I can’t put a chance of a return for a playoff run above 2-3 percent. Lots of NBA players who tore their ACL in a prior postseason sat out the next full season entirely so it would be a huge ask for Gallinari to beat that timetable and come back in the midst of a playoff run where everyone physically needs to be at their best to hang on the floor.”"
Danilo Gallinari would be the perfect midseason addition for the Boston Celtics
Given the recent struggles suffered by the Boston Celtics on the floor, Danilo Gallinari would make for a great addition to the team by the trade deadline or just ahead of the postseason — with the playoffs being a tricky time to integrate a new rotational piece.
Unfortunately, that isn’t looking like the reality the Cs will be facing this season. The more likely course of action would be to package his contract — which has a player option for the 2023-24 season — with draft picks and/or end of the bench players like Payton Pritchard, Noah Vonleh, and Justin Jackson to seek a frontcourt upgrade or a wing with a similar skillset.
Gallinari wanted specifically to be a member of the Celtics, spurning the Chicago Bulls in free agency. The jury is out if he’ll ever get to wear Boston green though.