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Derrick Rose retires: Best moments from his 16-year career

liz roscher
Staff writer
·4 min read

Derrick Rose, 16-year NBA veteran, 2009 Rookie of the Year and 2011 MVP, announced his retirement from professional basketball on Thursday. And NBA players like Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks are paying tribute to him.

While he may no longer be contributing on the court, Rose leaves a legacy behind that is uniquely his. Let's take a look at some of the best moments from his career.

Born and raised in Chicago, Rose getting drafted first overall by his hometown Chicago Bulls in 2008 was straight out of a storybook.

The fairytale continued during the 2008-09 NBA season. He won Rookie of the Year, and had a dynamite playoff debut.

Just two years after winning Rookie of the Year, Rose — just 22 at the time — had a monster season.

His exceptional season won him the MVP in 2011, and he remains the youngest player to ever win the award.

The Bulls were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2015 playoffs, but not before Rose stole a win for the Bulls with a Game 3 buzzer-beater.

Rose, who by 2017 had endured four knee surgeries over the course of his career, came alive on Oct. 31, 2018 against the Utah Jazz. He dropped a career-high 50 points that night, which turned out to be incredibly emotional for him.

According to Rose's teammate Jeff Teague, Rose said before the game that he was going to score 50 on the Jazz. And as he got closer and closer, the entire Timberwolves team began to break out in tears watching their teammate, who had been through so much, own the court like that.

After the Pistons traded Rose to the Knicks in 2021, he put up a pair of impressive games in New York's first-round matchup against Atlanta. In Game 2 of the series, he put up 26 points off the bench in the Knicks' lone win of the series. He started Game 3 and dropped 30 points, again leading all Knicks scorers.