Danilo Gallinari started his professional career in 2004 when he played in the Italian third tier for Casalpusterlengo. He moved up the ranks of Italian professional basketball, moving to Armani Jeans Milano in the second division before moving up to Olimpia Milano after that. In the top tier of Italy, he was also able to play in the Euroleague in the 2007-2008 season, winning the rising star award for the competition that year. In April of 2008, he declared for the NBA Draft.

Gallinari was taken with the sixth overall draft pick in the draft by the New York Knicks, which was televised on ESPN. His rookie year saw him miss a large stretch of time due to injury, with Gallinari missing nearly every game that regular season until the month of January. He showed flashes of brilliance at times in the 2009-2010 season and was a key pillar in the early portion of the 2010-2011 campaign where Amar’e Stoudemire and young players like Gallinari led to optimism for the Knicks for the first time in a decade. Gallinari’s 31 points against the Boston Celtics in 2010 may have been the highlight of his tenure with the Knicks.

That optimism was short-lived for Gallinari, though, as he was traded to the Denver Nuggets in the middle of that season. In a three-team deal between the Knicks, Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves, Gallinari was sent to Denver with all-star Carmelo Anthony going to New York. Gallinari continued to show flashes for the Nuggets, including a 30 point performance against the Portland Trail Blazers in his second appearance with the team. But he had to deal with injuries continuing to get in the way of him completing multiple seasons. He missed the entire 2013-2014 season with an ACL injury, with his first game back the following year being a seven-point performance against the Detroit Pistons.

In 2017, the Nuggets traded Gallinari to the Los Angeles Clippers, where he teamed up with players like Lou Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a division that featured Kevin Durant’s Warriors and LeBron James’ Lakers. He was traded to the Clippers as a part of a deal with the Atlanta Hawks, who acquired Jamal Crawford along with a draft pick from the Houston Rockets in the trade. Injuries again derailed Gallinari in Los Angeles, as he missed time in both of his seasons with the team.

The Clippers traded Gallinari to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019, with Gallinari and Gilgeous-Alexander being sent along with five first-round picks to OKC in exchange for MVP candidate Paul George. With Russell Westbrook being traded to Houston to bring Chris Paul to the Thunder, the move allowed the Thunder to reset after some painful eliminations in the playoffs. The fresh start was good for Gallinari as well, who played in 55 of the team’s 64 games for the season and averaged 19.2 PPG.