Danilo Gallinari is an NBA player of Italian descent. Danilo, popularly known as Gallo (which means cock in Italian) by friends and fans, was born on August 8, 1988, in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, the son of Vittorio and Marilisa Gallinari.
His father was also a professional basketball player. During his active years, he played with several teams, including the Olimpia Milano of the LBA and the Scaligera Basket Verona of the Italian League.
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As the son of a basketball player, Gallinari was attracted to basketball at an early age, but his path as a professional began in 2004 with the Casalpusterlengo – a team in the Italian B1 series. The following year, Armani Jeans Milano acquired him and sent him to Edimes Pavia, which was to participate in the Italian championship in the second division in the 2005/2006 season.
Due to an injury, he could only play half of the season that year. The following year he played sixteen games, scoring an average of 14.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 2.0 steals to earn the award for best Italian player in the Italian second division championship.
In the same year (2006) he was reappointed to the squad by Olimpia Milano to participate in several competitions this season. Among the events of this season is the Italian championship in the first division, the European cup competition in the second division, and the EuroCup (formerly called ULEB).
In his first season, Danilo Gallinari not only recorded an average of 10.9 points, 1.7 steals, 1.0 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per game in thirty-four season matches but also an average of 11.5 points, 2.1 steals, 0.9 assists, and 3.7 rebounds per game in eight playoff matches, to be called the league’s player under twenty-two years old.
In the 2007/2008 season, he would play in the EuroLeague for the first time, where he also recorded amazing statistics to win the league’s Rising Star Award for this season.
NBA Career
Danilo’s contract with Olimpia Milano included the provision of gaming facilities abroad, particularly in the USA. The escape clause also removed major obstacles that could prevent him from joining the National Basketball Association (NBA), so he was declared for the NBA Draft in 2008 and was selected by the New York Knicks as the 6th overall.
He signed a two-year contract with the team. However, in the 2008/09 season, he missed a few games due to back problems. He remained on the team until early 2011, when he was transferred to the Denver Nuggets. In his first game with the team, he scored a career-high of thirty points in the game against the Portland Trail Blazers, which ended in defeat.
During the 2011 NBA lockout, Danilo Gallinari returned to his home country and joined the Emporio Armani Milan to return after the 2012 lockout and sign a contract extension with the Nuggets. Due to an ACL violation, he would miss the rest of the 2012/13 season and the entire 2013-14 season.
He returned to the team in October 2014. In August 2015, he signed a two-year contract extension with the team, and in February 2016 he scored a season-high of thirty-three points in a game against the Chicago Bulls that ended in a 115-110 win. Unfortunately, he missed the last twenty-two games of the season due to an ankle injury.
In July 2017 he was taken over by the Los Angeles Clippers in a swap that sent Diamond Stone and Jamal Crawford to the Denver Nuggets. He will make his debut with his new team in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers in which he scored eleven points. He has remained with the Clippers to this day (at the time of writing this article).
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His Wife, Girlfriend
The Italian player is not married, but there were rumors that she was dating the reality TV personality and socialite Brittny Gastineau in 2014. It is not sure if the rumor was true and if the duo is still a couple.
When asked by CBS Sports in 2015 who is the most beautiful woman he has ever met in person, Danilo Gallinari said outright that her name is Madalina Ghenea. According to him, the actress is Romanian but lives in Italy.
Height And Other Facts You Didn’t Know About Danilo Gallinari
It stands at a height of 2.08 m (6 ft 8 in) and weighs 102 kg. His other body measurements are not known.
Prior to being called up for the NBA, Danilo signed an endorsement deal with Reebok.
He spent the first years of his life with his maternal grandmother. Besides basketball, Gallinari played as a model for Armani and played guitar.
