Zach Harper at CBS Sports has the first article on the Danilo Gallinari injury, a torn anterior cruciate ligament aka ACL. Gallo also posted about it on his Facebook page – which you can see here.

Nuggets press release on it – here.

An MRI exam today revealed that Denver Nuggets F Danilo Gallinari suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee during Thursday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks.

The MRI showed no signs of other ligament or meniscus damage. He will miss the remainder of the 2012-13 season.

Gallinari, 24, averaged 16.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 71 games this season.

"We're extremely disappointed for Gallo. He was having a career year in scoring and rebounding and was a huge reason for our success," Nuggets executive vice president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri said. "We will obviously support him and be there for him throughout his recovery.

Hard for the player, but as we have seen with Corey Brewer and many others — you can come back better than ever from this injury. At just 24 years-old, Gallo should/could be back sometime next season.

He suffered the injury in the second quarter against the Dallas Mavericks on April 4th and the team came back to win that important game. The Nuggets fought back after the dispiriting sight of seeing their teammate in pain on the floor and showed a lot of heart in the win.

The big question now? Who does George Karl turn to in replacing Gallo in the starting lineup? He could go with Brewer, Wilson Chandler, or even a different option to preserve his bench rotation in Evan Fournier or Jordan Hamilton. We’ll keep you all posted.

Drop Gallo a line on Twitter right here if you like.

Matt Moore from CBS Sports writes how Denver can survive without Gallo – here.