Nuggets Rumors: Clippers working on Danilo Gallinari sign-and-trade

The LA Clippers are working on a three-team sign-and-trade for Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari in NBA free agency.

As most of us probably expected, Danilo Gallinari should be leaving the Denver Nuggets in NBA free agency this summer. He enjoyed the process of having meetings and should now be on his way to the LA Clippers, as L.A. work towards a three-team sign-and-trade that would result in a three-year, $65 million deal for Gallinari, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Along with the Nuggets, the Atlanta Hawks are involved to help the trade work, while the Nuggets will be receiving draft compensation:

"The Clippers will send Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone and a future first-round pick — possibly the 2018 pick recently acquired via Houston — to the Hawks, league sources said. Denver is expected to receive draft compensation for facilitating the deal with Gallinari, who played the past six seasons for the Nuggets."

In case you were wondering, Paul Millsap is not in the sign-and-trade, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks confirmed.

By rules Denver would be operating as a team over the cap with the Gallinari s/t and acquiring Millsap in a s/t does not work.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 4, 2017

For the Clippers, this makes a lot of sense. They need more offense and shooting around Blake Griffin, and Gallinari offers them far more versatility as a combo forward who can play both the three and four and stretch defenses effectively to the 3-point line. They’ve been looking for that player for a while.

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For the Nuggets, this feels a bit more like a missed opportunity. They’re helping a playoff rival as the Clippers will also be battling for a low playoff seed, but that’s kind of hard to avoid if Gallinari wants to join them. The issue is that despite draft compensation being a bonus to avoid losing Gallinari for nothing, this could have been a chance for the Nuggets to ditch a salary and create more cap space to make George Hill a good offer.

Both Kenneth Faried (owed $12.92 million in 2017-18) and Darrell Arthur (owed $7.46 million in 2017-18) may need to go in order for that to happen, but the Nuggets need to clear out their host of power forwards and can’t pursue Hill without making another trade now.

The Los Angeles Lakers are discussing a one-year deal with Hill which could give him the chance to turn a healthier season in 2017-18 into more money in free agency next summer. This year, the market for point guards is slim and there isn’t much money around for him. Nevertheless, there’s no agreement as of right now and Denver may still have a slight chance to make a deal in order to fully pursue him.

Next: Paul Millsap explains decision to join Nuggets

Unless the terms of this Gallinari sign-and-trade change, though, there’s a lot of pressure to ditch salary quickly now.