Considering the greatest what-if story in NBA history, most fans mention Derrick Rose . The former Chicago Bulls superstar took the league by storm in the first four years, winning the MVP and taking his team to the conference finals while having them play their best basketball since the Michael Jordan era.
However, a series of injuries halted everything — a promising career Rose just wanted to enjoy.
Passion to play
Selected as the overall No. 1 in the 2008 NBA draft, the point guard had the privilege of representing his home team in Chicago, as he was born and raised in Illinois.
Coming into the NBA as Chicago's first No. 1 pick since Elton Brand in 1999, his only focus was playing the game, not the rookie contract that made him a pro.
"I didn't know about salaries and none of that until my sophomore year; it clicked," said the explosive guard. "That might sound crazy, but… it clicked like, 'Damn, I can change my family life with this. All the way until my sophomore year, I had just a pure love for the game; I didn't look at [expletive] salaries."
D-Rose stepped into a franchise desperate for rejuvenation, having not made it past the second round of the playoffs since their title-winning 1997-98 season — Jordan's last season in the Windy City. Chicago only made the playoffs three times between MJ's retirement and Derrick's debut. In No. 1's first four seasons, the Bulls made the playoffs.
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Injury problems
With Rose at the helm, Chicago reached the conference finals in 2011, in a season that marked the franchise's best record in over a decade.
They finished with the league's best 62-20 record, and the 6'3" guard earned the league MVP award. At 22 years and six months old, he became the youngest-ever recipient of the trophy.
When he hoisted the MVP award in front of a crowd of over 22.000 spectators at the United Center in Chicago, they were all taken back to the memories of Mike, the only MVP winner in the franchise before the Memphis product. There was a general feeling that the old glory days were back.
"I didn't choose it; all these [expletive] chose me. Everything that I ever lived in and known my whole life just came to me. I never wanted none of this, no fame, none of that," D-Rose added.
All those hopes died out in the following season, as he was limited to only 39 games in 2011-12. In Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs, Rose tore his ACL, marking the beginning of the end for the point guard. Missing the entire 2012-13 campaign, the road to recovery seemed unattainable for the former MVP. He managed to play 60 or more games just twice in the last 13 seasons of his career.
It was a sad moment in his career, as he couldn't play the game he loved. After leaving Chicago in 2016, the one-time MVP moved around, hoping to find another stable home. He played for the New York Knicks two times, then moved to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and finally, the Memphis Grizzlies, where he announced his retirement in September 2024.
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