Prior to the season starting, we discussed that the Atlanta Hawks may look to trade Danilo Gallinari as the season progresses. Well, the start that he has had to the 2021-22 season is not helping his cause to stay a member of the team.
In the pre-season, Gallinari injured his shoulder. This caused him to miss the first three games of the season and while this does not sound like much, it is actually huge at this time of the season on this team.
During these games, Cam Reddish established himself as the player who Nate McMillan goes with off the bench first because of his two-way. As the Hawks were without Reddish for much of last season, this, and the re-addition of De’Andre Hunter has left Gallinari struggling to find his role on offense.
The Atlanta Hawks should look to trade Danilo Gallinari
At the moment Gallinari is averaging less than 7.0 points per game. To put it bluntly, for a player being paid just under $20.5 million for the season, that is simply not good enough. Gallinari is paid the second-highest amount of any player on the Hawks roster this season, behind only John Collins who got the bag in the offseason.
Gallinari was traded to the Hawks by the OKC Thunder at the start of the 2020-21 season and played really well under McMillan last season. However, with Collins signing his long-term deal, Jalen Johnson being drafted as well as Gorgui Dieng being signed, Gallinari is redundant for the Hawks’ needs.
On top of that, the Hawks have the extensions of Kevin Huerter and Trae Young kicking in next season. While his $21.5 million deal is only partially guaranteed, the Hawks need to get something back for Gallinari. They have such talent and depth but could still get a key rotation piece from another team.
While Gallinari is struggling now, he has a proven track record in the league that teams will certainly be interested in him. This will free up court time for others and also cap space for next season.