OKC Thunder: Danilo Gallinari free agency decision among top priorities

The OKC Thunder begins their offseason turning their attention to roster management with Danilo Gallinari a primary focus.

One of the greatest strengths of the OKC Thunder general manager Sam Presti is roster management. He is able to get things done which surprise most people in the NBA, whether they are fans, experts, or other teams.

When he made the call on the Paul George trade he secured heaps of picks, as well as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari. Of the players, SGA is locked up for a couple of seasons. However, Gallinari is a free agent now that the season is over.

Gallinari played 62 games, averaging 18.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. His shooting was simply exceptional. From the floor, Gallinari shot the ball at 43.8 percent. From deep Gallinari went at 40.5 percent, good for 19th in the NBA.

Where Danilo Gallinari’s shooting helped the OKC Thunder

He made 178 of his 3-point attempts which were 16th in the entire league. Talk about a stretch four. When Gallinari was on, the OKC Thunder were close to unbeatable. I would watch him come off a Steven Adams screen or receive a Chris Paul assist and felt sure that he would hit the shot.

However, where Gallinari was even better was at the free-throw line.  His 89.3 percent from the line was sixth-best in the NBA for the season. His career tally of  87.3 percent is eighth among active players and 24th all-time in the league.

While we all appreciated how good he was for the year, and he would put on a scoring master-class on regular occasions, the biggest question was would he stay? When he was traded to the OKC Thunder, Gallinari said he wanted to play somewhere next year where he could win a title.

Winning is what the OKC Thunder have done. They surprised the entire league this season and showed what is possible when you play to your identity. If not for the advent of COVID-19 there was a strong possibility the Thunder could have taken the third seed.

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With the natural growth of the team, coming from SGA, Darius Bazley, and Luguentz Dort to name a few, this team is going to be competitive again. This should satisfy the power forward’s desire to win.

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Also, Gallinari is a big reason the team is winning and is one of the two players entrusted with the ball in his hands at the end of the game. The other player is Mr. Clutch, Chris Paul. His presence is important to Gallinari to help him be successful.

The other factor which makes me hopeful that Gallinari will stay with the OKC Thunder is the hunger he is going to have thanks to pushing the Rockets to seven games and being so close to moving on. In the seven games, Gallinari was up and down in terms of production.

He had four double-digit scoring games in the series. However, the reason Gallinari is going to have a fire in his belly is the three games where he had less than ten points. This includes the four-point effort in game seven where the Thunder only lost by two.

Gallinari will be thinking about unfinished business. He could blame himself for not producing when it counted the most. This will also give him faith in the franchise that they are competitive even when one of their stars isn’t producing.

If the Thunder elects to remain competitive next season, Gallo is a crucial piece of the equation. He may even be willing to take less money in order to leave room for the Thunder to add another valuable contributor. Based on his own words of ‘wanting to win’ that possibility is gains credence.

Hopefully, the big Italian still feels this way as he was a vital part of this season’s success.