9 Players the New York Knicks gave up on way too soon

4. Danilo Gallinari

The New York Knicks in the 2010-11 season had started to amass an intriguing young core in the midst of some aging veterans. The problem with young cores is that they tend to develop slowly, and the Knicks (to no one’s surprise) proved too impatient to wait. Instead, when Carmelo Anthony was interested in joining the Knicks, they sent that young core to the Denver Nuggets to bring Anthony into the fold.

Danilo Gallinari headlined the group that was sent to Denver. The sixth pick in the 2008 NBA Draft out of Italy, Gallinari exploded in his second season, averaging 15.1 points while shooting 38.1 percent from 3-point range. He was averaging basically the same numbers the following season when he was traded.

The Knicks sent Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov and a bevy of draft picks to the Nuggets for Melo, Chauncey Billups (who was waived later that year) and some bit players. Anthony was a pending free agent and could have simply signed with the Knicks that summer. The Knicks could have surrounded Anthony with that young core, including Gallinari, and instead jettisoned him to the mountains.

Gallinari and that group of players helped the Nuggets maintain a strong level of success even without a true “star” and he averaged double figures every season of his career moving forward. His best year was in 2015-16 when he averaged 19.5 points per game. The Knicks with Gallinari and Anthony would have been lethal; instead, they bailed on organic growth and hamstrung their ability to truly contend.