Danilo Gallinari has made it clear he sees Kawhi Leonard’s 2019 move to the Clippers as the moment that “changed the trajectory” of his career. Leonard’s deal came with the expectation that Paul George would be traded from the Thunder to Los Angeles, and that chain reaction sent Gallinari to Oklahoma City.
For Gallinari, the move may have felt like a detour. For the Thunder, it became one of the defining breaks in the franchise’s recent rise.
Oklahoma City entered the 2019-20 season with low expectations after moving George and trading Russell Westbrook to Houston that summer. The team was projected to win no more than 33 games. Instead, the season turned into a surprise run that looked nothing like a rebuild in the making.
Chris Paul, acquired in the Westbrook trade, anchored the group and delivered a season that ended with him finishing seventh in MVP voting. Around him, the Thunder played with a kind of edge that made the year feel bigger than anyone outside the building expected.
Gallinari was right in the middle of it. In his lone season with Oklahoma City, he averaged 18.7 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 40.5 percent from three as the starting power forward for a team that won 44 games and finished fifth in the West.
But his numbers were only part of the story. The bigger piece was the salary structure of the George trade, with Gallinari’s $64.8 million contract serving as the main money going back to Oklahoma City and helping make room for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to arrive with him.
That part of the deal ended up mattering far more than Gallinari’s short stay. SGA has since become the face of the franchise, and the Thunder’s last seven years have included consecutive 60-plus win seasons, an NBA championship run, and a two-time MVP leading the way.
So even if Gallinari views that move as a painful turning point in his career, Oklahoma City can trace a huge piece of its current identity back to the trade that brought him there.
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Thunder Just Added Another Big Man With One Roster Question Looming
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What makes the move more interesting is that Oklahoma City still has an open standard roster spot, which leaves the front office with a decision to make before the Oct. 20 season opener. An Exhibit-10 can be a useful bridge, especially for a player trying to carve out a place in the organization, and the Thunder have the ability to turn one of these training-camp arrangements into a standard deal if the right fit emerges. [Read more 🡒]