Sources informed Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari will miss the rest of the NBA season after having reconstructive surgery on the torn ACL in his left knee today. Gallinari, who missed last season’s playoffs and the first half of this season after a left knee injury in April, had planned to return this year, but elected to have the surgery instead.
Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari had reconstructive ACL surgery on Tuesday will miss the entire 2013-'14 season, sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 21, 2014
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The news comes as a surprise, but Woj mentions that Gallinari never had surgery on the ACL in April, just the meniscus was repaired at that time. Now he’s had the bigger procedure on the Anterior Cruciate Ligament:
Gallinari never had the ACL surgery in April, only surgery to repair his meniscus. Story soon on Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 21, 2014
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Via Wojnarowski’s full report:
Shortly after suffering the knee injury in an April 4 game against the Dallas Mavericks, Gallinari had surgery to repair a torn meniscus but the ACL reconstruction was delayed. There had been a belief on the doctor’s part that the ACL could be strengthened to play again without the traditional procedure, but that never happened, sources said.
Gallinari alluded to possibly missing the entire 2013-14 season a week ago when talking with La Gazzetta dello Sport, as translated by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.net:
“I got over the most boring part, by now. The muscle tone is back, in the gym I lift weights I never lifted before. I work with the ball and changes of direction. Let’s say I still have to work on the mental part, the most important one. Because it’s inevitable to think about my knee – Said Gallo, who added – I haven’t set a date for the comeback. It’s a decision we will take further on. Hypothesis to miss this season? Everything can happen. It’s an idea that passed through my mind. But then, maybe, I get back before.”
So there you have it. The Nuggets were hoping the ACL could heal itself, but it failed to get stronger as Gallinari sat the first part of this season. So on Tuesday Gallinari had the ACL reconstruction the doctors had hoped to avoid, and now he’s gone for the season.
Last season Gallinari averaged 16.2 points and 5.2 rebounds in 32.5 minutes per game before going down with the knee injury.
What do you think?
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