The first substantial Celtics rumor of the NBA free agency period has Danilo Gallinari choosing between Boston and Chicago, as reported first by Jake Fischer.
Sounds like Danilo Gallinari will be deciding between Chicago and Boston for his next team. The Bulls have much of the full MLE to offer, roughly $8M AAV and a hair more than the Celtics. But Boston appears to be Gallo’s preferred landing spot.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) June 30, 2022
Bulls currently favorite to land Danilo Gallinari, per sources. Chicago is offering a 2yr, $15M deal and Gallo favors length of deal/role over money. Boston, Miami, Lakers, Wolves still in the mix but the Bulls are the favorite. Boston offered a 1yr/$6.5M deal, per sources
— Davide Chinellato (@dchinellato) June 30, 2022
Danilo Gallinari spent four seasons with Artūras Karnišovas in Denver (missed one for ACL injury) and one season with Billy Donovan in OKC. As reported this AM, Bulls prepared to make 2-year offer in $7-8M range annually. They’re in the mix.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) June 30, 2022
Guessing Gallo’s decision might come down to opportunity more than money. He has earned $175 million in his career — tough to imagine the difference between Chicago’s $8 million and Boston’s $6.4 million taxpayer MLE will be a deciding factor.
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) June 30, 2022
While we know that Gallo can shoot, he seemed to have lost a few steps in recent years and was never really considered much of a defender in the first place. But we’ll see how this develops.