ORLANDO, Fla. — Derrick Rose hasn’t played in a game for the Knicks since the flip of the calendar to 2023, with his last appearance coming on New Year’s Eve in Houston.
With the trade deadline set for Thursday, Knicks coach and longtime Rose teammate Tom Thibodeau was asked Tuesday if he wanted the 34-year-old Rose to remain in a mentoring role for the team’s younger players or give him a chance to play. To be given. Time elsewhere.
“He’s been great. Any role you ask Derrick to play, he embraces it. He’s always been a team-first guy. So I know he’s always ready,” Thibodeau told Amway. “He contributes to our club in a lot of different ways,” he said before facing the Knicks’ Magic at center.
“As far as the trade stuff, there’s a million trades that are talked about and very little happens. So I always want him to be around.
Rose began his 15th year in the NBA with high expectations after being sidelined by multiple ankle surgeries last season, but he was removed from the rotation in November along with Cam Reddish and Evan Fournier. Grimes, Emmanuel Quickley and Miles McBride.
“I think for any veteran, it’s not easy to accept,” Thibodeau said. “And I think you’ve always got to sacrifice and put the team first. And that’s what he’s always done, whether he’s been the MVP or the guy coming off the bench.
“He’s dealt with everything in this league that he can deal with, and I think he has a great perspective on the league and so he’s going to contribute in a positive way, the way He can and has done it.”
Rose missed significant time early in his career with the Bulls along with Thibodeau due to knee injuries.
With a club option worth just $15.6 million on his contract after this season for 2023-24, Rose could be used as a trade chip before Thursday’s deadline. He never won a championship during an injury-plagued 15-year NBA career.
“I just want to be happy playing basketball,” Rose said earlier this season. “Of course if I can get one, that would be great. But I always feel like when I’m on the court in year 15, it’s like a championship for me.
Rose, who returned to Thibodeau’s rotation intermittently after being injured in December, is averaging just 5.8 points in 12.9 minutes per game — both career lows — over 26 appearances this season. Barring a surprise comeback, Tuesday’s game would have been the 19th in a row he hasn’t come off the bench.
“Just have to be ready, find a way to be ready,” Rose said earlier this season. “It’s like everything else, forcing me to do who knows, what? But I always take it as a challenge where I have to find a way to be ready right now.
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