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FOSHAN, CHINA - AUGUST 31: #8 Danilo Gallinari of the Italy National Team looks on against the Philippines National Team during the 1st round of 2019 FIBA World Cup at GBA International Sports and Cultural Center on August 31, 2019 in Foshan, China. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)

Even after a 14-year NBA career and becoming one of the most successful Italian players in history, Danilo Gallinari can’t just walk away from the game of basketball.

Gallinari, 37, announced his retirement in December of 2025, capping off his career with a championship and Finals MVP in the Puerto Rican Baloncesto Superior Nacional league after playing on eight different NBA teams from 2008 to 2024, spending time alongside some of the best players in recent league history.

But now, with his NBA career over, Gallinari hasn’t completely stepped away from the game. In an exclusive interview with Heavy Sports, the Italian forward discussed topics ranging from his post-playing interests, his favorite players to watch in the league right now, and why he can’t just stop being involved in basketball despite his recent retirement.

In Retirement, Danilo Gallinari Is Staying Around the NBA

Gallinari last played in an NBA game on May 2, 2024, with the Milwaukee Bucks. After a few brief stops in the last few years, it was the final time he stepped foot on an NBA court. Still, now more than two years after his last NBA game, the Italian forward can’t just think about basketball.

“I can’t live without basketball. So it says it’s my passion. It’s my love,” Gallinari told Heavy Sports. “I still play with a group of friends once a week. I just, I just can’t live without it. My wife knows it. My kids know what the deal is.”

Gallinari was drafted by the New York Knicks in 2008, spending three seasons before being traded in a package for Carmelo Anthony that sent him to the Denver Nuggets, where he stayed for the next seven seasons.

After two seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, the last of which saw Gallinari average a career-high 19.8 points per game, he was a part of the monumental trade that sent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a record-breaking amount of draft picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Paul George and subsequently Kawhi Leonard in 2019.

Gallinari then bounced around from the Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks, a brief stint with the Boston Celtics that, after an injury, didn’t see him suit up for the franchise, along with the Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons, and Bucks, becoming a veteran leader while injuries were starting to take a toll.

Still, though his playing career is now over, Gallinari can’t just walk away from basketball and the NBA. Most recently, he teamed up with the AT&T Dunk Bus for their stop in Oklahoma City to provide fans with new experiences to bring them closer to the game.

Gallinari On The Defending Champion OKC Thunder

When asked about why Gallinari chose Oklahoma City for his new brand collaboration, along with citing his recent stops at the Thunder facility and regular-season games, he still has a connection with the franchise he spent the 2019-2020 season with.

“I came to OKC a couple of times during the season to check on my guys and my teammates, my former teammates, and you know, OKC was very special for me,” he told Heavy Sports. “And so when I had the chance to come back to OKC for something pretty special that they organized, I have the chance to have the chance to experience more fan things around the game.”

Paycom Center is known for having one of the best environments in the NBA, and as they also have the reigning MVP in Gilgeous-Alexander, as Gallinari said, it’s hard not to root for the defending champions.

“Yeah, it’s definitely one of the best, if not the best, places to play a home game in the playoffs, but also to live in OKC. It’s, it’s something different from any other city,” Gallinari added. “And like I said, I love to be back and see my guys and the people that I’ve worked with just for one season…it feels like I’ve been here for many years.”

When speaking about the current team, who are favored to win the NBA Finals for the second year in a row, with a group of players Gallinari has experience with, he also had more praise.

“You could see from the beginning that they were going to be special…It’s amazing to see the what, what you know, SGA, and also Lu Dort, were able to accomplish. But also Mark (Daigneault) as a coach. He was my coach, my assistant coach. He was my coach, and when I was here in OKC, so it’s, I think it’s special as a player, as a former player, just to see the process and see what you know, the journey of a player or coach. I’m very happy for them.”

The Thunder are on the verge of sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers and head to the Western Conference Finals for the second year in a row.

Gallinari’s Favorite Players To Watch In The Current NBA

When asked about other stars Gallinari follows in the current NBA, he picked out two names in particular, one of whom he said has shades of the early-career Italian, and one that he feels is a must-watch superstar.

“So I see, you know, a young guy, 19 years old, 20 years old, like Cooper Flagg,” Gallinari said, referencing the Dallas Mavericks forward and Rookie of the Year who reminds the retired veteran of himself. “You know, for him, the sky is the limit with what he did this year; it’s already amazing. And so he can play multiple positions, once he improves his three-point shooting. I mean, we’re talking about (an) MVP-level player.”

Additionally, Gallinari said that when it comes to established players, Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves is someone who has the ‘killer instinct’ and is a star who has the chance to make a big impact on the NBA today.

“One of my favorite players is Anthony Edwards,” he told Heavy Sports. “Every year, he’s a player that excites me when I know that he’s playing. I definitely want to watch him play his style and the way that he plays, and the way that he also approaches the game, and he’s, you know, his opponents, so it’s, he’s definitely one of my favorite players.

“You have to have that, to be number one, to be an MVP, to be the best player of your team, you have to have that (killer instinct). If you don’t have that, you’re going to get passed,” he said of players like Edwards and other top stars. “As soon as you don’t perform, or you don’t show that you can perform at the highest level, or sometimes the injury happens, somebody else is going to step up. And is this job this, you know, a lot of guys are fighting for a contract. So whenever they get the chance to play and to prove where they can be in the league, you gotta, you gotta watch out.”

Danilo Gallinari In Retirement

After 14 NBA seasons with career averages of 14.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists on 42.8/38.1/87.6 shooting splits in 777 games for eight different teams, Gallinari is known as one of the most successful Italian basketball players in NBA history.

He now hosts a podcast talking to current and former players. Gallinari is an active fan of Serie A’s AC Milan and Formula One’s Scuderia Ferrari, and hopes Kimi Antontelli can eventually win a championship with the Prancing Horses as his career starts to take off.

Gallinari might have been in Oklahoma City to partner with the AT&T Dunk Bus and to watch the Thunder beat the Lakers, but his continued interest in basketball extends far beyond that.

“Yeah, I can’t live without basketball,” Gallinari added. “I wake up every day doing stuff for basketball…And that’s just how it is.”