Danilo Gallinari was a member of the Boston Celtics during the 2022-23 season, yet he never played one game due to an ACL injury he suffered last summer. Before he got the chance to make his debut, Gallinari was traded to the Washington Wizards this offseason in a three-team deal that brought Kristaps Porzingis to Boston.

The NBA is a business, so sudden trades like these aren't uncommon. In fact, point guard Marcus Smart spent his entire nine-year career with the C's before he was involved in the same blockbuster trade for Porzingis.

In Gallinari's case, he was always a Celtics fan growing up, which makes this offseason trade sting a little bit more. Even though he's from Italy, he greatly admired Celtics legend Larry Bird and came to Beantown in hopes of winning a championship like his idol.

Unfortunately, the 34-year-old was used as trade fodder, and he still has some hard feelings about it. On the Italian A Cresta Alta podcast, Gallinari revealed that he's looking forward to exact revenge against the C's next season.

“I can't wait to play against Boston,” he said. “When the schedule will be unveiled, I'll put an X on the games we will play at Boston against the Celtics.”

While we don't know when they'll square off exactly, the Celtics will match up with the Wizards at least three times during the 2022-23 campaign. Gallinari will hopefully be in the lineup and fully recovered from his torn ACL that kept him sidelined all of last year by then.

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Although the Wizards don't have high expectations next season, Gallinari is no stranger to playing well versus the C's. When he was still on the Atlanta Hawks, he dropped 38 points, including ten made threes, against Boston en route to a dominant 127-112 victory on February 24, 2021.

Injuries might've slowed down the Italian sharpshooter, but there's no question that he'll be looking to light it up against the Celtics when the 2023-24 season begins.