Former NBA player Danilo Gallinari is extending his professional basketball career by playing over in Puerto Rico, but the island’s beautiful beaches come with their own risks.
A report from Puerto Rican broadcast network Wapa TV claims that Galinari’s pregnant wife was attacked by a “marine animal” on the island’s Isla Verde beach in the municipality of Carolina on Thursday afternoon.
According to a further report by El Nuevo Dia, the most popular newspaper on the island, Commissioner of the Carolina municipal police Ruben Moyeno confirmed that the woman was bitten on her thigh, causing an open wound. Moyeno would state that her condition was described as “stable”.
The El Nuevo Dia report also confirms that the victim is Gallinari’s wife, Eleonora Boi, an Italian TV presenter who wed Gallinari in July 2022 – and who is currently pregnant with the couple’s third child.
Injuries Consistent With Shark Attack
While neither the initial report nor Moyeno confirmed the bite was definitely caused by a shark – with a barracuda being floated as another possibility, El Nuevo Dia’s reporting added that a biologist working with the island’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA), having seen images of the wound, believes the bite marks to be compatible with that of a shark.
DRNA biologist Nilda Jiménez, coordinator of the agency’s Protected Species Program, said in a written statement that “[b]ased on the photographs provided to us, we believe the characteristics of the bite could be compatible with those of a shark”, albeit also stating that “to validate this, a series of analyses would be necessary.”
“For this purpose, medical personnel were asked for samples, which, if available, would be analyzed promptly.”
Gallinari And The NBA/Puerto Rico Pipeline
Gallinari – who turns 37 next week – is playing his first season in Puerto Rico, after the end of a lengthy NBA career that saw him spend time with each of the New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Washington Wizards, L.A. Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee was his last NBA home, as he signed a minimum salary contract to close out the 2023-24 season, before moving last year to Puerto Rico’s BSN.
Just yesterday, Gallinari’s team, the Vaqueros de Bayamon, closed out Game Seven of their tough BSN semi-finals series against the Canrejeros de Santurce, with Gallinari drawing 16 free throws in the close-out game on his way to 24 points and 7 rebounds. Among his teammates on the Bayamon roster are former NBA players Chris Duarte, JaVale McGee and Renaldo Balkman, while the vanquished Santurce team ran a line-up featuring John Jenkins, Kenneth Faried and Ian Clark.
Puerto Rican BSN basketball is always a good watch for those looking to keep tabs on the careers of former NBA players, and for those players, the sun, sea and creature comforts of playing in the American overseas territory made for a choice post-NBA gig. Very seldom does anything like this happen; according to a report from Forbes, sharks numbers are in a sharp decline in Puerto Rico, but sufficient numbers remain that attacks are not unheard of. For the Rooster and his expectant wife, it is once too often.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Danilo Gallinari’s Wife Attacked by a Shark appeared first on Heavy Sports.