On Saturday, Jan. 4th, the Chicago Bulls beat the New York Knicks 139-126 on what was called ‘Derrick Rose Night.’ The team held a halftime ceremony for Rose and announced that they plan to retire his jersey number some time next season. Rose played in Chicago for eight years, from 2008-16, and was named the youngest MVP in league history during the 2010-11 season.
“Tonight is not about that,” Rose said before the game. “It’s about me giving everybody that’s in this room, everybody that was a part of the story, the journey, the good, the bad, the ugly; it’s celebrating everyone.”
Rose announced his retirement before the 2024-25 season after spending the last two years with the Memphis Grizzlies. After a series of injuries beginning in 2012, he was never able to reach his peak performance, but the Chicago teams from the early 2010s remain a favorite of Bulls fans and NBA fans alike. Both the Bulls and Knicks wore ‘1.4.25’ on their warmup shirts, marking the ceremony’s date and Rose’s playing numbers during his time with both teams and his high school.
The halftime ceremony was led by Chicago broadcasters Neil Funk, Stacy King, and Rose’s teammate and friend Joakim Noah. All three highlighted the point guard’s achievements and accolades during his 16 seasons, praising him for being a humble and hard-working star and fan favorite in Chicago.
“You’re not only the MVP,” Noah said during his halftime speech, “you’re the people’s champ.”
Throughout the night, chants of “M-V-P, M-V-P” could be heard in the United Center, and even Rose himself couldn’t hold his emotions back.
“Thank you, Chicago, for forcing me to be great,” Rose said during the halftime ceremony. “For putting those expectations on me.”
Before the game, the Bulls announced they would retire Rose’s jersey next season. He will sit in the rafters with all-time greats Bob Love, Jerry Sloan, Scottie Pippen, and Michael Jordan. Besides Jordan, Rose is the only other player in team history to win the MVP award, becoming the youngest player ever to achieve that feat at 22 years old in the 2011 season.
Rose won the Rookie of the Year award in 2009, the MVP in 2011, and led the Bulls to a string of playoff runs in the early 2010s decade. The team matched up against LeBron James-led Cavaliers and Heat squads multiple times but failed to beat them on four separate occasions.
Perhaps one of his biggest moments came in the 2015 playoffs after he hit a buzzer-beater against the Cavs to give Chicago a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The team lost the series, but the shot and moment were a representation of Rose’s return after years of injuries derailed his career.
Rose dealt with a series of serious injuries from 2012-2014, which began with his torn ACL in the first round of the 2012 playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers. He then missed the entire 2012-13 season and only played in a few games in the next year before tearing his meniscus in November 2013.
He returned the following season, still dealing with lingering injuries, but he helped Chicago make the playoffs, in which he hit the game-winner against Cleveland. Rose played his last season with the Bulls in 2015-16, which was still cut short by other injuries, and after missing the playoffs, the team traded him to the Knicks.
Despite the prime of his career being cut short by a string of knee injuries, Rose remains a fan favorite in Chicago today. He led a team alongside Noah that challenged James’ Cavs and Heat teams in the Eastern Conference while just being ‘a kid from Chicago.’
During Rose’s MVP season, he averaged 25 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game while leading the Bulls to their first 60-win season since Jordan’s last year with the team. He made his sole All-NBA team that year and was the third player since 1973 to record 2,000 points and 600 assists in a single season. Rose won the MVP between five years of James winning it in the two years before and after in a year that Bulls fans have remembered fondly for over the past decade.
“Everybody’s story is different. For some reason, mine ended up being this way. Coming from Chicago, we rolled with the punches.”
By the time he announced his retirement, Rose had ended his career with 12,573 points, 3,770 assists, and 2,324 rebounds while being named to three All-Star games and winning that all-important MVP in 2011. It is still unknown if Rose will be a candidate for the Basketball Hall of Fame in the upcoming years, but regardless he will always be one of the most popular athletes in the history of Chicago sports.
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