The Denver Nuggets haven't quite been eliminated from postseason contention just yet, but they are on the cusp of that happening. Denver is 5.5 games back of the current eighth-seeded Houston Rockets, and they only have seven games left to play so it is inevitable that they will be eliminated very soon.
To make it even harder to stay alive the Nuggets are still without their best player Danilo Gallinari who hasn't played since Feb. 26. Gallinari has been dealing with an ankle injury that seemed to be making progress, but that progress hasn't come quite fast enough.
Since Gallo went down with the injury he has been confident he would be able to return at some point during the regular season. The 27-year-old forward made it his goal to get back on the floor by the end of March, and that seemed realistic a few weeks ago when head coach Mike Malone said he was ahead of schedule.
About a week after Malone said Gallinari was ahead of schedule, he announced that Gallinari was still weeks away from returning. That update was two weeks ago now, and at that time it seemed like a possibility his season could be over, but now Gallinari says he is likely to shut it down for the rest of the season.
Gallinari plans to continue to rehab the ankle so that he can be ready for the Olympic qualifying tournament. That will give him about two and a half more months to get the ankle healthier as Italy will compete for a spot in the 2016 Olympics from July 4-10.
Gallinari has only been able to play in 53 games this season, but he made the most of them as he had a career year. The 7-year veteran averaged a career-high 19.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 36 percent from three.
Prior to the start of this season, Gallinari signed an extension to remain with the Nuggets through 2018. Despite that extension, his name has still come up in trade talks, and he will likely draw interest again this summer. The Nuggets don't seem all that inclined to trade the forward, and Gallinari has no interest in being dealt, so he should be back and ready to go for next season.
