The story of Derrick Rose will always be a story of what could have been. One the most promising young talents the NBA had ever seen, he was plagued by health issues most of his career and we’ll never know the heights he could have reached. On Sept. 26, he announced his retirement from the sport after 16 years.
One thing Rose knew how to do was garner attention, and his exit from professional basketball was no different. Rose, 35, bought full page ads in six different cities: Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Detroit and Memphis to announce his departure and thank the fans of each city for having him.
He announced his retirement on his Instagram page, where he has more than 2 million followers.
Rose entered the NBA as the No. 1 overall pick in 2008 and was selected by the Chicago Bulls. He was lauded as a once in a generation talent, and for those first few years seemed to be fulfilling that promise. He won the 2008-09 Rookie of the Year and for the next three seasons qualified as an all-star.
When he was 22 during the 2010-2011 season, he averaged 25 points per game and 7.7 assists, video game level stats that earned him the title of the youngest MVP in NBA history. That same season he led the Bulls to a 62-20 record and they made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, where the team lost to the Miami Heat 4-1.
Tragedy struck during the 2011-12 playoffs when he tore his ACL in the first round. Things were never the same after that. He didn’t play all of the next season and only played 10 games in the following one. He was traded to the New York Knicks in 2016 and traded a few more times after that, never regaining his trademark magic athleticism.
His latter career saw him playing mostly as a journeyman and support player, and he continued to work his way through injuries. His career stats are still impressive. He averaged 17.4 points and 5.2 assists in his 518 starts and 723 games played.
In the last three seasons, he only played 77 games. It should be mentioned that Rose was found not liable for an alleged gang rape of a former girlfriend in 2016. Whether or not that remains a big part of his legacy remains to be seen, but it does illustrate just how famous he was, because not liable does not mean not guilty. In fact, jurors in the trial lined up to take pictures with him afterward.