NBA News: Derrick Rose injured again, might have played his last game for the New York Knicks
Injury-prone PG to become free agent in 2017 offseason
Derrick Rose might have played his final game for the New York Knicks suffering an injury that will cause him to miss the rest of the 2016-2017 NBA regular season. Rose had a torn meniscus and will go under the knife, confirmed the latest NBA news on Sunday.
The recovery is pegged at six to eight weeks and this is the same injury for Rose in 2013 when he also previously tore his meniscus. The Knicks starting point guard will become an unrestricted free agent in the 2017 offseason and has likely played his last game with the Big Apple team.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported the bad news for New York via Twitter. League sources confirmed the need for surgery and that the former NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) will miss the Knicks’ final five games of the current regular season.
“New York's Derrick Rose has suffered a torn meniscus in his knee and will miss remainder of the season, league sources tell @TheVertical,” the NBA insider tweeted on Monday.
Rose will become a free agent for the first time in his career, which means he’s free to move teams in the upcoming summer. It’s not likely that the Knicks bring the point guard back because it is in rebuilding mode and prefer younger players on cheaper contracts. New York is also on its way back to the NBA lottery.
At this point of his career, Rose does not have the leverage to demand a big contract because of his injury history. There is no point for the Knicks in giving him the huge deal because they want to build around Kristaps Porzingis and other young guys in the team.
Rose has been linked to the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this year with reports that Jason Kidd, the Bucks head coach, is allegedly interested in the veteran point guard. Another squad, the Minnesota Timberwolves, were also linked in trade rumours to Rose. Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau was Rose’ coach while they were with the Chicago Bulls years before, including the latter's NBA MVP season.
The Knicks acquired Rose via a trade with the Bulls last offseason in exchange for Robin Lopez, Jose Calderon and Jerian Grant. New York received Rose, Justin Holiday and a 2017 second round pick in the deal.
Despite his injury history, Rose is still one of the better guards in the league. He has averages of 18.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game this season.
