NBA Trade Rumors: Minnesota Timberwolves pursuing Atlanta Hawks’ Danilo Gallinari
32-year old Danilo Gallinari and the Atlanta Hawks enjoyed a fruitful 2020-21 NBA season. The versatile forward shot at over 40% for the third straight season of his career and played an important role for the Atlanta Hawks on defense and offense from off the bench.
Danilo Gallinari averaged 13.3 points and 4.3 rebounds whilst playing only 24 minutes per game and came up with the goods in the Hawks’ impressive Playoff run as well. Gallinari started just four matches throughout the season and is an impressive all-round defender with decent passing and a high basketball IQ. He has in recent days been linked with a potential move, with the Minnesota Timberwolves currently pursuing the Forward.
NBA Trade Rumors: Minnesota Timberwolves pursuing Danilo Gallinari?
Despite the Atlanta Hawks having multiple better defenders than Gallinari, he has proved to be an astute two-way player with good positional sense. Additionally, Gallinari is a better ball-handler than his 1.5 assists per game suggests, with an increased role set to lead to an increased overall output as well, something that he can easily get at the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves have the likes of Josh Okogie and Jaden McDaniels, two young players who have been rotated at forward positions alongside the likes of Juancho Hernangomez and Jarred Vanderbilt. Gallinari can expect to slot in straight in the starting five. Both Okogie and McDaniels are currently worse three-point shooters than Gallinari, who is a decent defender and will also bring in an increased passing output for the Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves have one of the most exciting young rosters in the NBA with the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns, Malik Beasley and Anthony Edwards. These are three stars that they will be looking to build around. Danilo Gallinari is a volume three-point shooter who took five attempts from distance per game last season and will effectively be the best three-point shooter on the Timberwolves roster.
He has two years left with around $42 million owed in salary and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2022-23 season. For the Timberwolves, getting into an experienced player alongside a young core for a relatively cheap salary appears to be a move that can later prove to be shrewd. The Timberwolves have an impressive roster and will be looking to add three and D players alongside potential experienced stars who can turn them into potential contenders for a long playoff run next season. While Danilo Gallinari will not be a straight-up solution that will turn them into an elite team, he is a useful starter who appears to have multiple years left in the NBA.