Uh oh. This is VERY bad news.

Usually, Nuggets guard Ty Lawson bounces around the practice court and back halls of the Pepsi Center with a smile as wide as his future is bright.

Lately, however, there has been some fade in the smile.

Lawson walked the halls today with a heavily-iced left shoulder, and with no real idea on when he’ll be back to the court. I asked him how it was doing.

“Terrible,” he said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with it. It won’t get better, for some reason.”

On Wednesday an ultrasound test was done on the shoulder, which was injured on Sunday against the L.A. Lakers on a hard foul by center Andrew Bynum. Nothing structurally wrong was found.

“It’s a good sign and bad sign,” Lawson said. “We still don’t know what’s wrong with it. I want to know what’s wrong with it so I can go ahead and get it fixed.”

Lawson can barely lift the arm to his waist. He’s definitely not playing on Friday against Indiana and will likely be out for an extended period, bad news for the Nuggets, who had gotten used to him being on the court. They miss the game-altering speed he’s brought to the table.

According to the Nuggets’ injury report, Lawson’s injury is a left shoulder contusion.

In his absence, veteran Anthony Carter played well against Oklahoma City, recording four points and 12 assists in 21 minutes of work. Carter will remain in the reserve point guard role.

Denver is in deep doodoo in the worst way if we lose Lawson for the rest of the season or playoffs. I can't believe we haven't heard more about this. Lawson has been very very important in spelling Chauncey throughout the season and while Carter has performed admirably, he gets abused by any PG with any semblance of a shot.

Please get better soon Ty, we need you. :(