Danilo Gallinari is having a career year for the LA Clippers, and no one seems to be paying any attention. Could he really be an All-Star talent this season?
The NBA hasn’t officially recognized a Comeback Player of the Year since the mid-1980s, but if they did, it would be hard to imagine anyone but LA Clippers forward Danilo Gallinari winning the award this season.
After playing in just 21 games last season for the Clippers, Gallinari’s contract was beginning to look like one of the worst in the NBA. He essentially earned $1 million for each game, and with two more years left on his three-year, $65 million contract, fans were plugging his name into the trade machine like the world depended on it.
Even in the games Gallo did play in last season, he looked like a shell of the player he once was. He converted a career-low 39.8 percent of his field goal attempts, had his lowest single-season scoring output since his rookie year, and struggled to get anything going from deep.
Now, at age 30, Gallinari is having a career-year with the LA Clippers — one that should put him in All-Star conversation.
Gallinari is averaging 19.5 points per game this season, and he’s doing so while connecting on 46.6 percent of his 5.3 attempts per game from deep. That’s only happened five other times in NBA history, and Stephen Curry is responsible for three of them. The other two players were Glen Rice and Dana Barros, each of whom were All-Stars in those respective seasons.
That alone isn’t enough to consider Gallinari a surefire All-Star, but LA’s success this season should certainly give the head coaches a reason to consider naming him a reserve for the Western Conference.
Tobias Harris has been a vital piece of this LA Clippers team, and is likely more deserving of an All-Star selection, but Gallinari has been right there with him. The two are LA’s top scorers by a good bit, and if the Clippers keep winning, it’ll be hard to keep either of them out of consideration.
Of course, Gallinari will have some stiff competition. The Western Conference is especially loaded with top-tier talent, and for him to have a real chance, he may need to bring up his averages a bit. That’s a good place to start, at least.
So long as Gallinari stays healthy and continues to play at the level he’s at, it’ll be hard to keep him out of consideration.