Il Gallo, two days after announcing the end of his career: “The idea of having been a positive model for the new generations is the most beautiful thing”
The happiness of having inspired the new generation, the confidence of having given everything, unforgettable moments like the Italian derbies, the chats with Kobe Bryant or Blake Griffin singing to him. And then the future that can wait until next year but which will still be with basketball, between the national team and the NBA, and that return to Olimpia that was dreamed of and never achieved “because there was never any interest on their part”. Danilo Gallinari wants to talk and talk about himself, and two days after announcing the end of his career he meets the Italian and international press via Zoom, bringing to life with words his 16 years in the NBA and his very long career in basketball.
nba
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“When I got there I had a lot of expectations for myself – he says -. You don’t know the NBA until you play it, and unfortunately the first year I wasn’t able to play much. In the second year I understood where I was, I started to think that I could become an excellent player in the NBA, that I could stay there for many years. I don’t want to think about what it would have been like without injuries, even if there remains a huge question mark over my career: I could fantasize about it, but it would be a waste of time. I like to think that it was a journey beautiful, one at the end of which I can say to myself that I gave everything I had and that’s what a player should do.”
legacy
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“The idea of having been a positive model for the new generations is the most beautiful thing – he explains -. I think the most beautiful things are the many messages I have received from my former teammates, who tell me that they still remember phrases that I used or that they use them now with the young people they have in the team. Or all those boys and girls who wrote to me telling me that they have always taken me as a role model. Or those with whom I played in the last European Championship, who are the ones who will play in the national team for the next 10 years: they told me that they watched me on television when they were little, they always took me as a role model. They are the most beautiful things.”
future
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With his third child recently arrived, Gallo has taken a break in planning for the future, at least until the new year. “I would like to stay in basketball, not as a coach because I don’t think I have the characteristics, but as a GM or in the front office. There are situations that I have to carry forward, but I have postponed them to 2026. Like the issue of NBA Europe, which is moving forward very quickly. For sure, I am there for Italy and will always be there: I have already said it to Gigi Datome, I also talked about it with Luca Banchi about how I can help. I can’t say on a practical level what it means, but I think for example to the many Italian kids here in the USA, where I remained to live.”
Milan
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Danilo also talks about why he didn’t end his career at Olimpia, as he had often said he wanted to do. “There has never been any interest, no contact. They came from other teams, but not from Olimpia. It’s not like I can wake up one morning and call Olimpia to ask if there is room to return: either there is interest from the club or not. There has never been interest, the times then meant that I wasn’t able to return. I thought about doing a last dance in Europe, but I didn’t want to move the family for a year or two knowing that in the future I want living in America: it’s something I would have done only for Milan, because I have particular motivations. But mine was still a beautiful career ending in Puerto Rico, where I was able to play as a protagonist, to experience the sensations of being an important player again. Winning was the icing on the cake, but I wish every athlete could end like this, as one wants to finish.”
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