Danilo Gallinari’s Meniscus Tear Isn’t The Worst-Case Scenario For The Boston Celtics

Of course, the end of the Kevin Durant trade saga wouldn’t end the offseason drama in Boston. Almost immediately after the core of the 2022-23 Boston Celtics squad seemed set in stone came disturbing news from overseas. On Saturday, Boston’s major free agent signing Danilo Gallinari hit the floor with a non-contact knee injury while playing for Italy in a FIBA World Cup qualifier against Georgia.

Thankfully, it looks like the Celtics have avoided the worst-case scenario. Despite fears that the forward had suffered an ACL injury, an MRI revealed that Gallinari had instead suffered a torn meniscus. While his dreams for playing for next month’s EuroBasket are shattered, the Celtics can at least be relieved that the two-year, $13.3 million contract he signed with the team likely won’t end up being dead money.

How much time the 34-year-old will miss will depend on what course of action he will take. Depending on what kind of surgery he has—and how quickly he recovers from it—Gallinari could be ready for NBA action in little over a month or he could miss the entirety of the upcoming season. Again, this is not ideal but a second ACL injury could have been a career-ender.

The most optimistic comparison might be the Celtics’ own Robert Williams III, who suffered a similar meniscus tear at the end of last season but was able to return during the postseason even if he wasn’t quite at full strength for them. Coincidentally, right before the Gallinari news, MassLive’s Brian Robb reported that Williams’s offseason recovery was going as well as could be hoped.

After this report on Williams, came some encouraging if bewildering news regarding Jayson Tatum’s wrist. The Celtics star revealed that he was now fully recovered from a fracture that he had been playing with throughout the postseason, a possible factor in Tatum’s inconsistent shooting during the Finals. The bewildering aspect of this revelation? Nobody outside the Celtics organization even knew about this injury before he announced that it had cleared up.

“It was small, but it was still like a non-displaced chip. So, like I chipped a bone but it didn’t leave the surface,” Tatum said during an interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks. “But it had shown that the bone had grew over it. So it healed, but I was still in pain because I kept getting hit or falling on it. So, I guess I played with somewhat of a fracture for like two months.”

It’s difficult not to wonder what a fully healthy Celtics team could have accomplished in the playoffs, particularly during their turnover-heavy Finals appearance. All summer long, fans have had the luxury of fantasizing about a season free from injury reports. However, news of Gallinari’s torn meniscus should force us to face a cruel reality: no NBA team goes through an entire year without dealing with significant injuries.

Playing a minimum of 82 basketball games a year guarantees that one’s roster will be tested. As NBA reporter Smith has pointed out on Twitter, that is just the tip of the iceberg. “Basketball players play basketball,” Smith wrote. “All summer long somewhere.” If Gallinari’s injury hadn’t happened during international competition, it could have happened during any activity that NBA players participate in to keep them game-ready when the official season starts.

Unfortunately, the only proper preparation for playing basketball at its highest level involves playing the sport at high levels. Until some sort of super-soldier serum program comes to fruition, no NBA team will ever field a wholly healthy roster for any amount of time. The Basketball Gods will always demand their sacrifices.