Danilo Gallinari retires: Former Knicks lottery pick, 14-season NBA veteran calls it a career
Gallinari last appeared in the NBA in 2023-24

Danilo Gallinari, the No. 6 overall pick to the New York Knicks in the 2008 NBA Draft who played for eight different teams across 14 NBA seasons, retired Tuesday, he announced on social media.
"I don't remember when you really came into my life," Gallinari, 37, says in Italian in the accompanying video. "Maybe the day I first heard the ball bounce or maybe when I realized there was something more beyond that sound. You've been a dream, a refuge, a constant challenge. You made me grow up. You made me fall. You picked me back up, and you taught me to never stop believing and trying. Together we've lived moments that became snapshots in the album of my memories.
"Thanks to you I've met wonderful people, friends, rivals, travel companions. In every battle, every tear, every celebration, there was a piece of your story and of ours. So I say thank you with a heart full of gratitude for every fall, every comeback, every round of applause and every silence and above all for teaching me who I am on and off the court. Our journey doesn't end here. It's just the destination that changes, not because the love is gone, but because sometimes feelings evolve, and every story needs its final chapter. You'll always be a part of me."
Today, with a heart full of gratitude, I am announcing my retirement from the career I’ve always dreamed of.
— DANILO GALLINARI (@gallinari8888) December 2, 2025
It’s been an incredible journey filled with countless memories that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. 🏀❤️ pic.twitter.com/UjRhTL8ZdP
After spending four years as a professional in Italy, Gallinari declared for the NBA Draft as a 19-year-old and the Knicks drafted him shortly thereafter. After a quiet debut season beset by back injuries, Gallinari averaged 15.1 points per game in 2009-10 and was having another strong campaign in 2010-11 before being one of the major pieces going to the Denver Nuggets in the blockbuster trade that sent Carmelo Anthony to New York.
Gallinari evolved into a key piece in Denver before tearing his ACL late in the 2012-13 season. The injury cost him all of 2013-14, as well. He averaged a then-career-high 19.5 points in 2015-16 and had a strong 2016-17 season, too, but was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2017 offseason after the Nuggets signed Paul Millsap.
Gallinari produced two strong seasons in Los Angeles -- including a career-high 19.8 points in 2018-19 -- before being part of another blockbuster, this time in the deal that sent Paul George to the Clippers and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Oklahoma City traded Gallinari to the Hawks, where he spent two seasons and was then traded to the San Antonio Spurs in the Dejounte Murray deal. The rebuilding Spurs waived Gallinari, who landed shortly thereafter with the Boston Celtics. Gallinari never played for Boston due to a torn ACL suffered less than two months after signing with the team.
Gallinari spent the 2023-24 season with the Washington Wizards -- where he landed as part of the Kristaps Porziņģis trade -- Pistons and Bucks. He spent last season playing for the Vaqueros de Bayamón in Puerto Rico, where he won Finals MVP.
Aside from his inclusion in several of the league's biggest trades, Gallinari was known as a skilled offensive big man and a forebear of the small-ball, space-and-pace movements in the NBA. From 2009-10 (his breakout season with the Knicks) to 2019-20, Gallinari made 1,179 3-points, third among all players 6'10" or taller; only Kevin Durant and Kevin Love made more over that span.
Gallinari, who was also a major part of the Italian national team even as recently as this year's FIBA EuroBasket competition, finishes his career with averages of 14.9 points and 4.7 rebounds on 42.8% shooting (38.1% from 3). His 11,607 career points are the most by any Italian player in NBA history.
















