A first-round pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, Derrick Rose was hailed as the savior of the Chicago Bulls, a franchise still overshadowed by Michael Jordan’s immense legacy.

Due to a series of serious knee injuries, Rose was never able to live up to those high expectations. At age 22, he was named MVP of the 2010-11 season, but in the first round of the 2012 playoffs he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Four surgeries followed over the next five years.

But Rose held out long enough and played parts of 15 seasons before finally announcing his retirement on Thursday.

“Knowing that I gave everything to the game, I’m confident in my decision,” Rose told ESPN’s Malika Andrews and Tim MacMahon. “Basketball was just the beginning for me. Now it’s important that I give everything I have for my family – they deserve it.”

Rose, who turns 36 on Oct. 4, retires as a three-time All-Star, in addition to his 2009 Rookie of the Year and 2011 MVP honors. Rose collected all of those accolades in his first four seasons in the league (2008-12), when he averaged 21.0 points, 6.8 assists and a .464 field goal percentage for the Bulls.

A torn ACL during the Bulls’ first round of 2012 playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers changed Rose’s career. He missed the entire 2012-13 season while rehabbing and played only 10 games in 2013-14 due to a right meniscus injury sustained in November 2013.

With Rose on the team, the Bulls won three playoff rounds from 2009 to 2015. Their closest appearance was the Eastern Conference Finals in 2011, after a 62-20 regular season. The Miami Heat, led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, eliminated Rose’s Bulls in five games; Chicago has not made the Conference Finals since.

In June 2016, Rose was traded by the Chicago Bulls along with Justin Holiday and a 2017 second-round draft pick (Damyean Dotson) to the New York Knicks in exchange for José Calderón, Jerian Grant and Robin Lopez.

This began an eight-year odyssey in which the point guard played for five different teams, starting in New York. Rose averaged 14.4 points and 4.0 assists per game while averaging 25 minutes of playing time in the second half of his career and was named Sixth Man of the Year in three different seasons.

Rose, a Chicago native, led the University of Memphis to a 38-2 record in his only collegiate season. The Tigers lost to Kansas in the 2008 national championship game.

This brought things full circle when Rose returned to Memphis for his final NBA season. He played in 24 games for the Grizzlies in 2023-24, including seven as a starter, and averaged 8.0 points.

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