Cavaliers point guard Derrick Rose once again is injured, this time with a sprained ankle that he suffered in late October. It’s only the latest in a long string of maladies that have torpedoed the career of the 2010-11 NBA MVP and, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin, has him thinking hard about his future.
Story with @mcten filed to ESPN: Cavaliers guard Derrick Rose is away from team and evaluating his future in basketball, league sources tell ESPN. Story soon on site.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 24, 2017As one Cavaliers source tells ESPN about Rose: "He's tired of being hurt and it's taking a toll on him mentally."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 24, 2017Sources tell the two ESPN reporters that “there is growing uncertainty inside and outside the franchise about whether he will return to the team.”
Rose, who signed with the Cavaliers for the veteran’s minimum as a free agent this summer after one season with the Knicks, has played in only seven games this season and is averaging career lows in minutes, points and assists per game. The Cavaliers’ offensive rating is 4.2 points worse when he’s on the court; on defense, their rating is a staggering 12 points worse when Rose is playing.
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Rose missed just six games over his first three NBA seasons with the Bulls, a stretch that culminated in the MVP award in 2011. But he played in only 39 games during the season that followed and then tore his left ACL in Chicago’s first-round playoff series, causing him to miss the entire 2012-13 season. Then, 10 games into the 2013-14 season, Rose tore his right knee meniscus and missed the rest of that season. Three mostly healthy seasons followed, but Rose tore the meniscus in his left knee late last season with the Knicks, forcing him to undergo knee surgery for the fourth time in his career.
The point guard left the Knicks without explanation for a time last year over what he called a “family issue” (he was fined after apologizing for his absence). His departure this time is different, a Cavs spokesman told the ESPN writers, because he informed the team that he would be stepping away and is not an active player with the ankle injury.
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