Getty New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose looks on from the bench during a game against the Washington Wizards.
Given his current role with the club, it’s wild to think that New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose will collect $14.5 million in salary this season. And if the club wants to keep him around for 2023-24, it’ll cost James Dolan another $15.6 million.
It wasn’t all that long ago, however, that the Knicks were all too happy to give the former NBA MVP his first big payday since his Chicago Bulls glory days.
Make no mistake about it — Rose played a pivotal role in the unlikely run that resulted in the Knicks advancing to the playoffs for the first time in eight years during the 2020-21 campaign (and as a top-four seed, no less). After moving from Detroit to the Big Apple in the Dennis Smith Jr. deal, Rose put up 15 points and four assists nightly while bagging better than 41% of his triples.
Now, though, he has been relegated to forgotten man status. And Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus sees his Knicks tenure potentially ending in the coming days.
B/R’s Eric Pincus: Derrick Rose Could Be Bought Out or Used as a Trade Piece by the Knicks
On February 6, with just a handful of days remaining until the trade deadline, Pincus dropped his list of potential buyout candidates from around the Association. And while Rose wasn’t namechecked as one of the top five players who could find themselves looking for new homes, he was the first honorable mention.
“Rose is a longtime favorite of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, but the team has gone with younger guards. Rose is 34, and New York isn’t likely to pick up his team option for 2023-24 at $15.6 million,” wrote Pincus.
His long history with Thibodeau notwithstanding, the writing has been on the wall for his Knicks career for some time now. Rose may have been in Thibs’ rotation to start the year, but he has made only five appearances for New York since December 4. And he hasn’t logged any time whatsoever dating back to the turn of the calendar into 2023.
Still, Pincus did put forth a scenario where Rose could remain on the Knicks roster beyond the trade deadline and the buyout period to follow. Even then, though, the end result for his NYC run would be the same:
“The team may want to hold on to him, just in case his salary is needed for a trade past this season.”
Knicks Turn Injury Report Into an Adventure
As observed by The Athletic’s Fred Katz, the Knicks took fans, their opponents and the rest of the Association on a ride with some injury report weirdness ahead of Sunday’s bout with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Mere moments before the game — which the Knicks went on to win in comeback fashion, 108-97 — tipped off, the team’s official Twitter account dropped a tweet stating that RJ Barrett would be starting on the wings for the club. Shortly thereafter, he was suddenly listed as doubtful.
In the end, Barrett was a no-go with what was later deemed to be a non-COVID illness. And while there may have been no helping how their reporting played out, the team may have to mind its Ps and Qs in the future if the league’s recent fining of the Miami Heat is any indication of how such things are received by the league office.