Danilo Gallinari and the Denver Nuggets are busy negotiating a potential contract extension to keep the young Italian forward in Denver long-term, according to Mark Stein of ESPN. The deadline for completing in-season extensions is January 25th, so any developments on a new deal for Gallinari will happen over the next twelve days or it will have to wait for the offseason. He is currently under contract through 2012-13 and would be owed $5.6 million next year under the terms of his current deal, but the sharpshooter is certainly looking for a substantial raise. Gallinari recently spoke about how he would love to sign an extension before the deadline with the organization, but that if it can't be done he will wait until the offseason too.
As noted by Stein, Derrick Rose is the only member of the 2008 draft class to have signed an early extension, but others like Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Nicolas Batum are waiting along with Gallinari to get something done. Galo currently leads the team in points per game with 17.2 points on an impressive 47 percent shooting. What remains to be seen is how much Denver thinks he is worth, especially after dishing out over $100 million in salary commitments to Arron Afflalo and Nene during the offseason. Remember, the team still holds the rights to another young forward who would also like an extension: Wilson Chandler. However, Chandler will not return to the NBA until the Chinese Basketball Association's season ends, so the Nuggets may be able to can that can down the road just a bit while focusing on locking up Gallinari.
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