Danilo Gallinari Out at Least Two Weeks with Fractured Hand

Well, we now know why Danilo Gallinari’s hand wasn’t seeing much improvement. The Clippers ran an MRI on the troublesome hand earlier today, and it displayed a non-displaced fracture, which the x-rays failed to spot. The Clippers have announced that Gallinari will be re-evaluated in two weeks. It’s very likely he will miss longer than that.

Because of Gallo’s injury, Doc Rivers said the Clippers will sign one of Tyrone Wallace and CJ Williams. I think Wallace has shown more this season, but Williams probably fits cleaner into the hole left by Gallo (and Bradley to a lesser extent).

Even outside of the questions this raises about the medical staff (for one: how did they not spot this sooner?), the Clippers have bigger worries. They have an easy schedule the next two weeks, one they might have breezed through with a healthy Gallinari. Those games look a lot more challenging without Gallo, and the Clippers can’t afford to lose more than one or two of them. Meanwhile, their schedule takes a turn for the worse right after that, starting with a brutal back to back in Houston and OKC on the 15th and 16th. Even giving Gallo two weeks, he will miss both those games. And if he misses more than that... well, this might be the injury that dooms their playoff hopes once and for all.

Hopefully Gallinari only misses those two weeks, and comes back in-shape and healthy, but it seems doubtful at this point.