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76ers Rival Celtics Lost a Key Addition Due to Injury

Boston Celtics acquisition Danilo Gallinari will miss the 2022-2023 season.
Justin Grasso|
76ers Rival Celtics Lost a Key Addition Due to Injury
76ers Rival Celtics Lost a Key Addition Due to Injury

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Following their 2022 championship run, which ended with a series loss to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics made a couple of key additions in the offseason.

Among the moves Boston made, they acquired a key bench piece as they scooped up former Atlanta Hawks forward Danilo Gallinari.

After spending two seasons with the Hawks, Gallinari was traded to the rebuilding San Antonio Spurs in the offseason. Less than two weeks after getting moved to San Antonio, Gallinari hit the open market after the Spurs waived him.

A few days into free agency, Gallinari inked a two-year deal with the Celtics, a move that was met with praise around the league as the Celtics’ bench got much stronger with the addition.

Unfortunately, Gallinari’s Boston debut won’t come anytime soon. As the veteran forward has been playing overseas with Italy in the FIBA World Cup, Gallinari injured his knee. The Celtics feared Gallinari’s knee injury would be an ACL tear.

At first, Gallinari was believed to have avoided the worst-case scenario as Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that initial exams showed that Gallinari’s ACL was stable last week. It turns out that’s not actually the case.

After further evaluation, Gallinari was diagnosed with a torn ACL, an injury he suffered in 2013 while playing with the Denver Nuggets. 

Now, Gallinari is expected to miss the entire 2022-2023 season, putting his Celtics debut on hold.

That’s a tough blow for one of the Philadelphia 76ers’ biggest division rivals. While Gallinari’s absence will be unfortunate for the Celtics, it doesn’t break Boston. Coming off of a successful year, the Celtics are primed to be back into championship contention next season. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.

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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Justin Grasso was a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s Philadelphia 76ers On SI Network. Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoMedia Threads: @JGrassoMedia

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