Knicks Seek to 'Do Right' in Derrick Rose Trade

If Derrick Rose's New York Knicks career is indeed over, the team reportedly wants to make sure that there are no hard feelings.

Perhaps looking to fulfill famous New Yorker Jerry Seinfeld's claims of a "mutual breakup"'s existence, the New York Knicks are reportedly seeking to help one of their veterans move on the right way. 

Speculation continues to fly around reserve guard Derrick Rose, who has yet to take the floor in any of the Knicks' games played in the 2023 calendar year thus far. If and when a Rose trade comes to pass, the Knicks are reportedly going out of their way to make sure the 2011 MVP finds a proper new home.

"Sources say that New York is open to finding a new home via trade for former MVP Derrick Rose," longtime NBA correspondent Marc Stein wrote on his website. "But (that's) only if it can, as one insider put it, "do right by" the longtime (head coach Tom) Thibodeau favorite."

Even as his metropolitan purpose has all but vanished ... at least from an on-court perspective ... Rose has been lauded for serving as a mentor and calming prescience on a team that's moving into a future headlined by Jalen Brunson and RJ Barrett. Rose has expressed no discontent with falling out of the notoriously hard-to-crack systems of Thibodeau, with whom he previously collaborated in Chicago and Minnesota, including his aforementioned MVP campaign. He is in the midst of his fourth campaign and second stint in New York, returning to the team in February 2021 after a one-season stay in 2016-17. 

While Rose (averaging 5.8 points and 1.8 assists in 26 appearances) likely won't make any sort of championship difference in the box score, the Knicks apparently want to ensure that he's able to find a new locale that affords him a chance to earn an elusive championship. Another ideal situation would likely be a reunion with the Chicago Bulls, whose fans have warmly received Rose upon each of his visits to United Center as an opponent. Chicago is the first team out of the Eastern Conference's current postseason picture, a half-game behind Toronto for the final Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament spot. 

In the meantime, the Knicks (23-19) return to action on Sunday afternoon when they visit one of Rose's former employers, the Detroit Pistons (1 p.m. ET, MSG). 

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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