Oklahoma City Thunder forward Danilo Gallinari will not play in his team’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, according to Jamie Hudson of NBC Sports Northwest.
Gallinari isn’t injured, but will be sidelined for resting purposes.
The Thunder acquired Gallinari in a trade that sent Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers this past summer.
In the 36 games he has played for the Thunder this season, Gallinari has averaged 19 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists over 30.5 minutes per game while shooting 43.8 percent from the floor, 40.9 percent from three-point range and 90.1 percent from the free-throw line.
The 31-year-old Gallinari was originally selected by the New York Knicks with the No. 6 overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft, but spent only two-and-a-half seasons with the Knicks before being traded to the Denver Nuggets in a deal that sent Carmelo Anthony to New York midway through the 2010-11 season.
Gallinari went on to spend parts of the next six years with the Nuggets, and while he produced when he was on the floor, injury issues largely defined his time in Denver. Most significantly, he suffered a torn ACL late in the 2012-13 season that caused him to miss major time in the ensuing years.
The Italian missed the entire 2013-14 campaign due to knee surgery, and in his final three seasons with the Nuggets, Gallinari played in 59, 53 and 63 contests, respectively.
He was then traded to the Clippers during the summer of 2017, but injuries remained a problem for Gallinari in Los Angeles, as he appeared in 21 and 68 games, respectively, in each of his two seasons in LA.
Gallinari owns career averages of 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while making 42.6 percent of his shots and 37.9 percent of his triples.
