The Denver Nuggets have signed forward Danilo Gallinari to a two-year, $34 million contract extension, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
The deal includes a restructuring of his current contract which will give Gallinari an additional $2.5 million increase to his $11.5 million salary that is owed to him for the 2015-2016 season.
Therefore, under new terms, Gallinari will receive $14 million this upcoming season, $15.5 million in 2016-2017, and $16.1 million for the 2017-2018 season, containing a full trade kicker.
After trading Ty Lawson to the Houston Rockets, the Nuggets created the cap room necessary to give Gallinari extra money for the upcoming season. Denver also has its $2.8 million room exception to re-sign Darrell Arthur if the team chooses to do so.
Not too long ago, the Nuggets also handed Wilson Chandler an extension that is worth $46 million for four years. They also have Kenneth Faried, who signed an extension last summer, under contract for the next four years. The three forwards, along with 2015 seventh overall pick Emmanuel Mudiay, will make up the core unit for Denver over the next few years.
Gallinari, 26, has been plagued by an ACL injury the last two seasons. He missed the entire 2013-2014 season after tearing his ACL the prior season and missed 23 games last season due to nagging knee pains.
However when healthy, Gallinari is a top-notch scorer with the ability to create for himself. Coming from his injury, though, he struggled tremendously last year, as he was trying to find his shooting touch. Gallo averaged 12.4 points on a career-low 40.1 percent shooting from the field.
For his career, he averages 14.2 points and 4.5 rebounds on 41.6 percent shooting from the floor and 36.7 percent from three-point range.
By keeping Gallinari and Chandler, two players who were mentioned in trade discussions earlier in the offseason, the Nuggets have decided not to completely blow up their roster and will move forward by simply replacing Lawson with Mudiay.