Los Angeles Clippers: Danilo Gallinari’s incredible comeback

Danilo Gallinari is no superstar, but his resurgent play has been a large factor in the Los Angeles Clippers’ run to the postseason.

Danilo Gallinari always appeared to be a perfect fit for the more 3-point centric and downsized NBA of 2019. At 6’10”, he gave up little to no height at the power forward position, yet with respectable handles and a sweet outside stroke, he was a handful to deal with on the offensive end.

Talent was never the issue for the former No. 6 overall pick, it was the ability to actually remain on the court long enough to make a sustained impact. He’s played in over 70 games just twice over the course of his 11-year career, including a total absence from the 2013-14 campaign recovering from a torn ACL.

Given his long list of injuries, you can forgive fans of the Los Angeles Clippers for not being over the moon when he was signed to a three-year deal worth $65 million in the summer of 2017, and even more so after Gallo suited up in only 21 games last season.

As the 2019 NBA Playoffs near, any hesitation fans may have originally had about Gallinari has been washed away, replaced instead with admiration for a player in the midst of his best season ever who’s helping the Clippers to one of the most surprising seasons in recent memory.

Despite averaging his fewest minutes per game in four years, Gallinari is inexplicably putting up career-highs in a number of advanced statistics such as win shares and true shooting percentage. He’s averaging 19.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game — also career-best marks — while shooting 43.6 percent from distance on 5.6 attempts a night.

As has been discussed all season long, Los Angeles doesn’t exactly have a traditional go-to superstar. Rather, head coach Doc Rivers spreads the love around to just about everybody, allowing guys like Gallinari and Lou Williams to thrive against defenses that can’t really focus in on just one of them.

When the Clippers traded their unofficial best player in Tobias Harris in early February, it was viewed as a presumptive waving of the white flag, giving up on a chance at the postseason in order to keep their first round pick this summer.

Yet since that time, Los Angeles has gone 15-6, led in part by Gallo and his uptick in production to 21.4 points in nearly three fewer minutes per game than before the trade, on a shooting line of .487/.415/.908.

The Clippers weren’t ever supposed to be in this position. After bringing in the biggest of fishes in LeBron James this past summer, it was supposed to be the Los Angeles Lakers making their return to basketball excellence with the Clippers left to scrap for 35 wins. But here we stand today, with L.A.’s other team currently slotted sixth in the ultra-competitive Western Conference and the Lakers doing their best to enter the sweepstakes for Zion Williamson.

There’s an interesting parallel between Gallinari and the Clippers, and it’s what’s made this pairing a match made in heaven. Prior to this season, the two had been cast aside by nearly everyone — Gallo as a presumed injury-prone player, and the Clippers a sideshow without enough talent compared to the mighty Lakers.

Neither was taken seriously, but both have made doubters pay for that exact notion, helping each other go through a revitalization that should only improve as time moves forward — especially if L.A. can acquire a superstar free agent this summer.

Gallinari is no franchise talent. There’s a very high chance he’ll never even make it to an All-Star Game, but his unexpected breakout campaign has endeared him to Clipper Nation, falling right in line with a team continuing to win through the most unconventional ways during the super-team era of NBA basketball.