Gallinari Injures Thumb in Italy Exhibition Game Fisticuffs

Recently signed LA Clippers’ small forward, Danilo Gallinari, injured his thumb during an altercation in an exhibition game between Italy and the Netherlands.

During an exhibition match between the Italian and Dutch National teams, LA Clippers starting small forward Danilo Gallinari fractured his thumb punching an opposing player in the jaw.

The match was going fine until Gallinari took exception to an aggressive box out attempt by the Netherlands’ Jito Kok and things went downhill fast.

The Italian forward went right at Kok after Kok hit Gallinari in the neck/face area with a forearm while attempting to box him out.

After pushing Kok and then trying to put him in a headlock, Gallinari got even more heated and threw a right handed haymaker than landed right on Kok’s left cheek.

After Gallinari left the game to have his hand medically evaluated at a local hospital, the Italian Federation tweeted out this about Gallo’s injury.

"Translated- “@gallinari8888 out from #EuroBasket2017. First metacarpal fracture of the right hand. Estimated times to recover 40 days.”"

However, most fans only read the “fracture” and “hand” part of that tweet and assumed that Gallinari had fractured his hand and would miss extended time.

The first metacarpal is actually the bone that connects your thumb to your hand (the bone between the two joints), which is not the same as the hand. A fractured hand can keep a player sidelined for a considerable amount of time, as Clippers fans previously learned with Blake Griffin after a similar incident.

A fractured first metacarpal is a far less extreme injury that should only take around three to four weeks to heal instead of months.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski added on Twitter that Gallinari isn’t expected to need any surgery to repair the fracture and that the team expects him to be ready for training camp.

While it sucks that Gallinari is hurt, its better that his injury occurred this early in the summer instead of closer to the season.

Gallo’s fight and injury brought plenty of trolls and jokesters out on Twitter that couldn’t help but bring up the Clippers’ curse. Many made jokes that Blake Griffin had already worn off on Gallinari, since Griffin had injured his hand punching a member of the team’s staff two seasons ago.

While it isn’t a great look for Gallo and the Clippers, who are already disliked by most of the league, you’ve got to admit, that was a pretty solid right hook that the Italian landed. Rocky Balboa would be proud.