Knicks Could Bring Back Former Draft Pick

It’s been 16 years since the New York Knicks selected Italian forward Danilo Gallinari with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

While Gallinari didn’t spend much time in New York as the centerpiece for the Carmelo Anthony trade in 2011, he has gone on to have a successful career with the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks.

The Knicks may find value in signing him to a contract for training camp, bringing him back to where his NBA career started.

“Even as he’s slowed down and struggled, he’s almost always leveraged his physicality and variable on-ball cadence and direction into opportunities at the charity stripe,” Bleacher Report contributor Dan Favale writes. “He has averaged fewer than five free-throw attempts per 36 minutes just once since 2018-19—a patently ridiculous rate from someone who’s seen fewer than 16 percent of his overall shots come inside three feet during that span. … Any squad with the defensive depth to use him at the 4 or as a third-string center should give him a long, hard look.”

The Knicks are willing to get creative with their lineups in the frontcourt after Isaiah Hartenstein left in free agency to sign with the Thunder. Coach Tom Thibodeau has suggested the idea of playing a small lineup with Julius Randle at the five, so why not incorporate a lineup with Gallinari there as a backup?

While Gallinari, 36, isn’t quite the same player he used to be, he provides veteran experience and positional versatility to a Knicks team that can never have too much of it.

Gallinari will have a tough time making the final roster, but he’s certainly worth giving a shot to with a training camp invitation.

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