Boston Celtics veteran forward Danilo Gallinari exited a FIBA World Cup qualifying game with what appeared to be a serious knee injury, per Sporteando’s Emiliano Carchia. The game, pitting his Italian National Team against the Georgian national team, may have seen both Italy’s and the Celtics’ ambitions on the court take a serious hit should the injury be serious.
Gallinari went down injured late in the contest’s final frame, and at present no details are available about the severity of the issue with Gallinari’s knee, but images captured from the play in question were not promising.
The Italian forward joined the Celtics as a free agent on a mini- midlevel exception and is hoped to be a significant part of their postseason push to return to the 2023 NBA Finals.
Gallinari leaves game with knee injury pic.twitter.com/fVs0wua1YM
— Emiliano Carchia (@Carchia) August 27, 2022
While the team can weather his absence for an extended period without serious risks to their title hopes if he is able to play this season, the boost he would be hoped to add during the regular season would take a hit if he missed considerable time.
Fingers crossed Gallinari dodges a bullet here in an offseason that has already seen a player lost for all of next season for play in non-NBA contexts after the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Chet Holmgren is to miss 2022-23 after a ligament injury in the CrawsOver Pro-Am.
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