Gallinari Fills One Spot. The Questions Behind Him Remain.

The Thunder added Danilo Gallinari to a wing rotation that had been stripped down to almost nothing, and that is a real thing. A veteran forward with size and shooting experience is better than the vacancy he's replacing. The piece I wrote Tuesday noted the acquisition; what's worth noting now, a day later, is what it doesn't solve.

Dort is gone, traded to Atlanta for three second-round picks. Wiggins and Joe are gone. Spencer Jones, the restricted free agent OKC targeted specifically to rebuild perimeter shooting depth, stayed in Denver after the Nuggets matched the offer sheet. Gallinari fills one of those slots. The others are still open, and training camp is close enough that what you have is largely what you're going into October with.

Ajay Mitchell is the variable that matters most here. He averaged 14.2 points and 3.8 assists last season and has been working through a conditioning issue since early September. If he's ready and right, OKC has a functional second scoring option behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. If he's not, Gallinari is doing more work than a veteran pickup should reasonably be asked to do. Jaylin Williams is the primary forward depth behind Chet Holmgren, and his efficiency last season didn't suggest he can absorb a bigger role without cost — the stretch run showed as much when his shot attempts rose and his percentage dropped.

Gallinari's arrival is a net positive. It's just a small net positive on a ledger that still has significant open lines. The front office made its bet — picks over continuity, flexibility over depth — and that bet gets stress-tested the moment camp opens.