Danilo Gallinari has spent years wondering what his NBA career might have looked like without the injuries and setbacks that repeatedly interrupted his path, and the former New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets forward now believes he may be the biggest “what-if” player in basketball history.
Danilo Gallinari opened up about the subject in an extensive interview with HoopsHype, reflecting on the Carmelo Anthony trade that sent him from New York to Denver, the injuries that affected his prime and the Denver team he believes could have made a deeper playoff run.
Asked whether he ever thinks about what might have happened if he had stayed with the Knicks and the Carmelo Anthony trade had never taken place, Gallinari admitted that the subject still comes up when he talks basketball with friends, family and people in New York.
“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.”
Gallinari then made a remarkable assessment of his own 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.”
Danilo Gallinari never experienced the prime he imagined
The Italian forward’s career was repeatedly disrupted by injuries, beginning with back surgery during his rookie season and later including two ACL tears.
“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.”
He explained how his skill set allowed him to remain effective even as his athleticism was affected.
“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 Nuggets, and so it was great to be able to just be free and play for all those years.”
However, Danilo Gallinari still believes there is one major unanswered question surrounding his career.
“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.”
The Denver “what-if” still bothers Gallinari
The Carmelo Anthony trade was not the only major “what-if” of Gallinari’s career. In Denver, he became an important part of a team that won 57 games during the 2012–13 season. The Nuggets lost to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs after Gallinari suffered a torn ACL shortly before the postseason.
“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.”
Despite all the uncertainty, Gallinari looks back on his six-and-a-half seasons in Denver fondly.
“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 Nuggets.”
