Former New York Knicks star Derrick Rose called it a career from the NBA on Thursday after 15 seasons in the league.
Rose announced the news on his Instagram account, which includes a penned letter to the game of basketball and all who supported him on his journey to superstardom (h/t Jenna Lemoncelli of the New York Post):
Derrick Rose was a once-in-a-generation NBA superstar at the peak of his powers
The Memphis product was nothing short of sensational in his prime. Rose hit the ground running in a major way after getting taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. Rose led a young and feisty Bulls team to the 2009 NBA playoffs and took the defending champion Boston Celtics to seven games in their first-round series before winning that year’s Rookie of the Year award.
Just two seasons later, Rose became the youngest player in NBA history to win a regular season MVP, when he did so at 22 years and seven months old. He averaged 25 points, 7.7 assists, and 4.1 rebounds per game on 44.5 percent shooting from the field and 85.8 percent from the charity stripe, where he appeared at 6.9 times per night as a point guard. Rose was widely considered as one of, if not the fastest players in the league, and wowed the basketball world with breathtaking poster dunks and lightning speed in the open court, as well as incredible production in the clutch.
Injuries robbed Rose of achieving more in his NBA career
Unfortunately, injuries robbed the NBA world from seeing the elite point guard continue to contend for MVPs and championships when he went down with a torn ACL in the 2012 playoffs and a season-ending torn meniscus 10 games into his return season in 2013-14, as well as other infirmities in the years following.
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Rose redefined his career once he joined the Knicks
Rose did turn the corner in his first stint in New York, where he returned to prominence in 2016-17 behind 18 points and 4.4 assists on 47.1 shooting from the floor. By the time he circled back to the Knicks starting in 2020-21, he finished ninth in MVP voting at the end of that campaign, and established himself as an adored sixth man for head coach Tom Thibodeau.
All in all, Rose will go down as one of the best players of his generation, though he may also be the first league MVP to not gain entry into the Hall of Fame, having nothing to do with his talent and skills, and mostly to do with his injury history.
