Danilo Gallinari isn’t hiding how he feels about Kawhi Leonard’s Clippers era. With Leonard’s run in Los Angeles now officially over after the team announced his trade to the Toronto Raptors, Gallinari says the move that sent him out of town altered the course of his own career.
Leonard’s arrival in 2019 came with a price. To land him and make the push to pair him with Paul George, the Clippers moved Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and five first-round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The deal helped shape the franchise’s direction, and it also sent Gallinari down a very different path.
For Gallinari, the timing mattered. He had spent two seasons with the Clippers from 2017 to 2019 and viewed that stretch as one of the best of his 16-year NBA career. After the trade to OKC, he put together a strong 2019-20 season with the Thunder, but his momentum didn’t carry the same way once he reached the Atlanta Hawks.
That’s why his frustration has lingered. He believes the Clippers stint could have led to even more, and instead the trade became a turning point in the wrong direction.
“He should pay all of that $50 million. He changed the trajectory of my career and put me in a difficult situation by sending me away from Los Angeles,” Gallinari said about Leonard's situation with the Clippers and how it affected him.
The fallout from the Clippers’ missteps has already been dealt with, with the organization and owner Steve Ballmer taking the biggest hit. Leonard was fined $700,000, a far smaller punishment by comparison. Gallinari, though, clearly thinks the consequences should have gone further.
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