Danilo Gallinari goes down flat on failure to return to Olimpia Milano

On more than one occasion during his career, Danilo Gallinari had ventilated the possibility of returning to Olimpia Milano, the club in which his father Vittorio first played and then he, in the early phase of his career: the news of the 1988 class’ retirement from playing basketball definitively closes the door on a return of the Gallo to the white and red. A couple of days after the official announcement, however, Gallinari himself explained that he had thought about a final chapter with the Olimpia jersey, explaining, however, that he had never received a call to that effect that could make the hypothesis materialize.

“With Olimpia there&#8217s never been any interest or contact – are the words reported by Eurosport – They came from other teams but not from Milan. Obviously I cannot wake up one day, call Olimpia and ask if there’s room to come back. If there isn&#8217t the interest you can”t do it. The’former New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Milwaukee Bucks then reiterated the concept: “In the heads of almost every player who has made it there&#8217s the choice to come home and do a year there. But times and sporting life don–t always allow it, he said. “It&#8217s something I would have done only with Milan, because I would have had extra motivation, but I still had a splendid end to my career in Puerto Rico”.

It was precisely in Puerto Rico, with the Vaqueros de Bayamon, that Danilo Gallinari won his only title at the club level, closing in the best possible way a long career that began at the senior level as a very young man, wearing the Casalpusterlengo jersey in the 2004-2005 season. Gallinari then played with Pallacanestro Pavia and l’Olimpia Milano, before the jump to the NBA and experiences in New York (with an eight-game stint in 2011 back at l’Olimpia, during the lockout), Denver, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Boston (season marked by a serious injury), Washington, Detroit and Milwaukee.

Gallinari, in his career, also starred on the national team: 83 total appearances for 1,129 points, 13.6 average with the Azzurri jersey.