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Derrick Rose, Former NBA MVP, Announces Retirement After 15 Seasons

Rose became the youngest MVP in NBA history when he won the award at age 22 back in 2011.

Tim Capurso

Memphis Grizzlies guard Derrick Rose during team introductions before their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center in March of 2024.
Memphis Grizzlies guard Derrick Rose during team introductions before their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center in March of 2024. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
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Former Chicago Bulls star and NBA MVP Derrick Rose on Thursday morning announced his retirement from the NBA after 15 seasons in the league.

Rose teased the announcement in a post onto his Instagram account.

"The psychological assumption automatically provides the means to fulfill the dream desire," Rose wrote.

Rose, who played for the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons, also took out ads in the newspapers of these six cities, penning an ode to basketball.

The Bulls posted a tribute video to Rose on the team's account on X (formerly Twitter).

Rose, the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA draft, wasted no time cementing himself as one of the best players and most explosive scorers in the league at a young age. He won the Rookie of the Year Award as a 20-year-old with the Bulls. By the following season, he was named an All-Star for the first time.

Then, Rose in 2011 truly enjoyed a breakout, becoming the youngest player in league history to win the MVP award.

But the seemingly limitless potential of his career arc was harshly halted by a series of injuries that held him to just 39 games played in the 2011-12 season. During the first round of the postseason that year, Rose tore his ACL and missed the entire 2012-13 campaign.

Rose returned from the injury, but was not the same player. He bounced between five teams over the remainder of his NBA tenure, enjoying a late-career renaissance as a sixth man off the bench for the Timberwolves, Pistons and Knicks.

"Basketball was and always will be my first love," Rose told NBA Insider Chris Haynes. "As a teenager, I had a goal of becoming an NBA player, and I achieved that. This isn’t a goodbye to the game I love; it’s a thank you."

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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