Former Cavalier, NBA MVP Announces Retirement After 16 Seasons

Former Cleveland guard Derrick Rose, who briefly played for the Cavaliers in 2017-18, was a three-time NBA All-Star and the 2010-11 NBA MVP.

Nov 3, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Derrick Rose (1) dribbles the ball as Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) defends in the third quarter at Capital One Arena. The Cavaliers won 130-122. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

For many years, the Cleveland Cavaliers faced Derrick Rose as a rival.

The point guard spent most of his NBA career with one of Cleveland’s division rivals in the Chicago Bulls.

On Thursday, the 2010-11 NBA MVP announced his retirement from basketball after 16 NBA seasons.

According to Stathead, Rose faced the Wine and Gold in 31 regular season games during his career, averaging 17.3 points, 5.9 assists, and 2.9 rebounds per contest. In the postseason, he averaged 22.0 points, 6.3 assists, and 4.1 rebounds in 12 games against the Cavaliers.

But while Rose spent 11-plus seasons in the Eastern Conference facing Cleveland, the first overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft briefly joined forces with the Wine and Gold.

The Cavaliers signed Rose during the 2017 offseason, following the team’s third consecutive trip to the NBA Finals. He had just averaged 18.0 points per game with the New York Knicks during the prior season, his most since the 2011-12 campaign.

Nov 3, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Derrick Rose (1) dribbles the ball as Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) defends in the third quarter at Capital One Arena. The Cavaliers won 130-122. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

In all, Rose played just 16 games for Cleveland during the 2017-18 season, starting in seven of them. He averaged 9.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 19.3 minutes per contest. 

His time with the Wine and Gold got off to a fairly decent start, as he scored in double-figures in each of his first seven games with the team. But after missing four of the Cavaliers’ first 11 contests, an ankle injury and voluntary absence caused him to miss 32 straight games before returning to game action in mid-January of 2018. 

Rose then played in nine of Cleveland’s 10 games during this span, averaging just 6.3 points per contest in this stretch, before being traded to the Utah Jazz that February.