One door closes, another opens.
Fresh off the heartbreaking departure of heralded point guard Chris Paul, the Los Angeles Clippers have acquired former Denver Nuggets forward, Danilo Gallinari in a three-team sign and trade, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
According to Woj, Gallinari's contract is a three-year, $65 million deal that also sent Clippers guards Jamal Crawford and Diamond Stone to the Atlanta Hawks.
The Clippers did not have the cap space to sign Gallinari outright, so the Hawks facilitated the deal by taking on the contracts of Crawford and Stone. To swetween the pot, Los Angeles also included their 2018 first-round draft pick that was acquired from the Houston Rockets last week in the CP3 deal.
In exchange, the Nuggest received a 2019 second-round pick from Atlanta as a parting gift for losing out on Gallinari.
Earlier reports from the weekend were that Gallinari was interested in signing with the Clippers after Doc Rivers and Jerry West sold the Italian sharp-shooter on the idea of playing with a formidable front court that includes All-Stars Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
Although not nearly on the elite level as Paul, Gallinari is a nice edition to the Clippers and could still keep them in contention for a playoff spot as the 6-foot-10 forward can shoot threes, or drive to the basket. He will most certainly space the floor, allowing more room for the likes of Griffin and Austin Rivers, with lobs to DJ still on the agenda as defenders collapse the paint.
Sports
Get today's sports news out of Los Angeles. Here's the latest on the Dodgers, Lakers, Angels, Kings, Galaxy, LAFC, USC, UCLA and more LA teams.
Meanwhile, Crawford is expected to ask for a buyout from the Hawks as he has told reporters recently that he has no intentions of playing for Atlanta since they are currently in rebuild mode.
Crawford has told sources that he is interested in staying in Los Angeles with the Lakers or joining the Golden State Warriors.
