Danilo Gallinari Injury: Latest Upates on Nuggets Star's Ankle Injury
The Denver Nuggets came into Monday night's game against the Houston Rockets dealing with a variety of injuries, and it wasn't long before yet another injured player was added to the list.
In the third quarter, forward Danilo Gallinari rolled his ankle and had to leave the game immediately. He then left the court to have his ankle examined.
For all the latest on Gallinari's injury, check back here periodically for updates.
Update: Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 8 a.m. ET by Wes O'Donnell
Gallo won't be back on the court until at least the All-Star break, but Nuggets fans and fantasy owners finally have a realistic timetable.
The Denver Post quotes coach George Karl saying:
""I think we're all shooting for somewhere after the all-star break. I don't know if it's Wednesday night (Feb. 29) against Portland or the next game or the next game. But we're hoping it's that week."
The Nuggets play March 2 at Houston and March 4 at San Antonio. Gallinari leads them in scoring and ranks third in rebounding. He's averaging 17 points and 5.2 rebounds.
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It goes without saying that the Nuggets are excited to get their leading scorer back as they are 4-8 in the month of February.
The 23-year-old Italian has been out since February 6th.
Update: Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 2:50 p.m. ET by Eric Bowman
The Denver Nuggets official Twitter account also provided some news on Gallinari's health status.
They went on to tweet that Gallinari's return date is not yet known, but the Nuggets have to be happy that this isn't anything worse.
This is definitely something to monitor of the course of the season, though, especially since the chip fracture came from a previous injury.
Denver surely hopes that Gallinari will return to form soon to help the team keep winning, but nothing is certain at this point other than the fact the forward will be in a waking boot for close to a week.
Update: Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 2:23 p.m. ET by Eric Bowman
While it's not good news for the Nuggets, looking on the bright side is the best approach. It could have been much worse for Gallinari, who is arguably Denver's best player.
The Nuggets are currently in fourth place in the Western Conference, and if they're to have any success down the stretch of the season and into the postseason, they need Gallinari to be healthy.
Luckily, there is still a lot of basketball left to be played and Gallinari won't be out too terribly long.
Update: Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 7:55 a.m. ET by Eric Bowman
As reported below, Gallinari has a chip fracture in his ankle, and we will find out more on the Nuggets big star later today.
This didn't stop Gallinari from talking to his many fans on Twitter, which he does quite often.
Athletes and tweeting can sometimes result in horrible endings, but this incident shows just one of the many reasons Twitter is so great.
Getting an update straight from Gallinari puts you in his world and what he's dealing with. The Nuggets sure hope he'll be back soon, but we wont know until later, so be sure to check back here for more updates.
Update: Monday, Feb. 6 at 11:25 p.m. ET
According to Nuggets insider Aaron J. Lopez, the news is not good for the Nuggets:
If this is indeed the case, this is a pretty bad break for the Nuggets. They were already short on healthy players, and Gallinari is a player they can ill afford to lose for an extended period of time.
Gallinari came into Monday's action averaging a team-high 17.2 points per game, and he had scored 14 points at the time of his injury.
As it was reported by The Denver Post, the Nuggets were forced to tackle Monday night's game without the services of Nene (heel injury), Arron Afflalo (ankle and toe injuries), Timofey Mozgov (ankle injury) and Corey Brewer, whose father passed away on Monday.
The Nuggets went on to lose the game 99-90.
The other players will be back soon enough, but we don't yet know if the same is true of Gallinari. Further tests could reveal the injury to be less severe, but they could also reveal it to be more severe.
The Nuggets are obviously hoping it's less severe.
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