As the first pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, Derrick Rose was seen as the savior of the Chicago Bulls, a club still in the shadow of Michael Jordan’s immense legacy.

A series of serious knee injuries never allowed Rose to live up to those lofty expectations. Named MVP of the 2010-11 season at age 22, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the first round of the 2012 playoffs. Four surgeries followed over the next five years.

Still, Rose stuck around long enough to play in parts of 15 seasons before finally announcing his retirement on Thursday.

“Knowing that I gave everything to the game, I feel confident in my decision,” Rose told ESPN’s Malika Andrews and Tim MacMahon. “Basketball was just the beginning for me. Now it’s important that I give everything for my family — they deserve it.”

Rose, who turns 36 on Oct. 4, retires as a three-time All-Star, in addition to his 2009 Rookie of the Year and 2011 MVP awards. Rose collected all of those honors in his first four seasons in the league (2008-12), when he averaged 21.0 points and 6.8 assists and shot .464 from the field for the Bulls.

A torn ACL during the Bulls’ 2012 first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers changed the course of Rose’s career. He missed the entire 2012–13 season due to rehabilitation and played in just 10 games in 2013–14 due to a right meniscus injury he suffered in November 2013.

The Bulls won three playoff rounds with Rose on their roster from 2009-15. The furthest they went was the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, after a 62-20 regular season. The LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh-led Miami Heat eliminated Rose’s Bulls in five games; Chicago has not returned to the Conference Finals since.

In June 2016, Rose was traded by the Chicago Bulls along with Justin Holiday and a 2017 second-round draft pick (Damyean Dotson) to the New York Knicks in exchange for José Calderón, Jerian Grant and Robin Lopez.

That was the beginning of an eight-year odyssey that saw the point guard play for five different teams, starting in New York. Rose averaged 14.4 points and 4.0 assists per game while averaging 25 minutes in the final stages of his career, and garnered Sixth Man of the Year votes in three different seasons.

Rose, a Chicago native, led the University of Memphis to a 38-2 record in his lone college season. The Tigers lost to Kansas in the 2008 National Championship game.

In a full-circle moment, Rose returned to Memphis for his final NBA season, appearing in 24 games, starting seven, for the Grizzlies in 2023-24 while averaging 8.0 points.

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