Former Bulls MVP Derrick Rose announces retirement from NBA after 16 seasons
CHICAGO (CBS/AP) — Derrick Rose announced on social media Thursday morning that he's retiring from the NBA after 16 seasons.
The Englewood native was drafted first overall by the Bulls in 2008, becoming the youngest MVP in league history.
As part of his announcement, Rose, 35, took out full-page ads in each of the markets of the teams he played for which also included the Knicks, Cavaliers, Wolves, Pistons, and Grizzlies. He spent last season with the Grizzlies, returning to the city that he called home for his one season of college basketball.
Rose, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by his hometown Chicago Bulls and the league's MVP in 2011, announced his retirement on Thursday. He was, and still is, the youngest MVP winner in NBA history, claiming that award when he was just 22.
"You believed in me through the highs and lows, my constant when everything else seemed uncertain," Rose wrote as part of his letter to the game, serving as his retirement announcement. He posted the letter online, as well as taking out full-page newspaper advertisements in each of the cities where he played in his NBA years.
"You told me it's okay to say goodbye, reassuring me that you'll always be a part of me, no matter where life takes me," he wrote.
Rose dealt with multiple knee surgeries over the years, took time away during the 2017-18 season to contemplate his future while dealing with ankle issues and sat out nearly two full seasons — after the knee injury in 2012 — when he should have been in his prime.
Rose averaged 17.4 points and 5.2 assists in 723 regular-season games. He averaged 21 points per game before the ACL tear 12 years ago, and 15.1 per game in the seasons that followed.
Rose was a serious candidate for the league's sixth man of the year award in three straight seasons — 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 — and even got a first-place MVP vote again in that 2020-21 season, a decade after winning that award.
He announced his presence as a star quickly, winning the league's skills challenge — as a rookie — at All-Star weekend in 2009, then winning rookie of the year and scoring 36 points in his playoff debut. It was a meteoric rise for someone who grew up amid poverty in a Chicago suburb, then saw basketball as an escape route and way to take care of his mother and family. In 2006, he hit a shot to win an Illinois state high school championship. Only five years later, he was MVP of the NBA.
"The kid from Englewood turned into a Chicago legend," the Bulls posted on social media Thursday, along with a video of Rose's highlights with the team.
A friend and high school teammate honors Rose as a "giver"
As demonstrated in that quote from the Bulls, Rose's humble beginnings on the South Side gave him a perspective filled with gratitude that shaped his life and career.
Timothy Flowers is now head boys' basketball coach at Simeon Career Academy, 8147 S. Vincennes Ave. Many years ago, Flowers played on the Simeon Wolverines basketball team together from their freshman through senior years.
"Winning a lot of games here, watching some amazing highlights that Derrick had, that our team had, the bonds that we had," Flowers said.
Rose led the Wolverines to two straight city and state championships in 2006 and 2007.
"He just always had a vision for himself," Flowers said.
Rose would go onto fame in the NBA beginning with his time in 2009 as a starting point guard with the Chicago Bulls, becoming Rookie of the Year and MVP in 2011.
Flowers had a court side seat to Rose's success. For the first eight years of his NBA career, Flowers was Rose's promotions manager.
Flowers said Rose never forget where he came from, and surrounded himself with close friends and coaches he called mentors, as he climbed the ladder to success.
Rose grew up in a second-floor apartment in a building at 73rd Street and Marshfield Avenue in West Englewood. Flowers lived just eight houses away, on the same block.
Flowers said witnessing crime in the neighborhood while growing up shaped Rose into the man he would become.
"That's the biggest thing that people don't know about Derrick, how much of a giver he is," Flowers said.
With giving back in mind, Rose took 15 top-performing Simeon students to Senegal in 2022. Flowers said the moment was filled with mentorship, and empowering the young men with advice to achieve their dreams.
With all the success Rose has achieved, Flowers said in retirement, Rose will focus on two new roles that are his passion—being a father and husband.
"When he wanted to choose his family over the game of basketball, he did it," Flowers said. "He's at a point where he feels he can give more to the world. He feels because of his story and our story, that he can tell them and motivate that next wave of people."
Flowers says there's no doubt in his mind, Derrick Rose will continue to inspire generations to come.