This was reported back on July 1, not long after free agency opened, but now it is about to become official:
Danilo Gallinari will sign with the Boston Celtics once he clears waivers. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN had the story with confirmation from Gallinari’s agent.
This is for the taxpayer midlevel exception. Gallinari went from the Hawks to the Spurs as part of the Dejounte Murray trade, and as part of that had the guaranteed money in this final season of his contract raised from $5 million to $10.4 million (to make the trade math work). The Spurs have waived him, and between the buyout on his old contract and the money from his new one he will make a little more than $17 million, as Wojnarowski noted in a later Tweet.
Gallinari will be an innings eater for the Celtics during the regular season — there is value in a 6’10” veteran who can shoot the 3 well — and allow them to keep the minutes of Al Horford and Jayson Tatum down. Gallinari’s poor defense will limit his use in the playoffs to specific matchups, but during the regular season he will space the floor, open up driving lanes for Tatum and Brown, and generally be a solid rotation player.
Adding Gallinari and Malcolm Brogdon while keeping the core of the team that just made the NBA Finals together is a big offseason win for Boston and decision maker Brad Stevens. The Celtics may enter next season as co-favorites in the East with Milwaukee.
Check out more on the Celtics
Report: Celtics plan to bring point guard Malcolm Brogdon off bench Report: Celtics re-signing Sam Hauser to three-year contract Report: Pacers trading Malcolm Brogdon to Celtics
As expected, Gallinari agrees to two-year, $13.3 million deal with Celtics originally appeared on NBCSports.com
