Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Derrick Rose will be away from the team, opting to re-evaluate his future in basketball, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin. According to a source close to the team “He’s tired of being hurt and it’s taking a toll on him mentally.”
Rose was coming off perhaps a career-saving season with the New York Knicks, showing glimpses of a resurrection of his former self, averaging 18 points, 4.4 assists, and 3.8 rebounds in his lone season as a Knickerbocker.
The 2011 MVP joined the Cavs in a veteran’s minimum salary after failing to garner interest from the Knicks, but soon saw his role as Isaiah Thomas’ temporary replacement become murky, as Dwyane Wade joined the rotation and immediately saw some of the playmaking duties.
So far, Rose hasn’t been what the Cavs expected, averaging 14.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game, but playing only in seven of the team’s first 18 games of the season, the last seven due to a sprained ankle.
Rose was last with the team for Monday’s 116-88 win over the Detroit Pistons, but according to a team spokesman, his current absence from the team is excused.
The 29-year-old point guard infamously pulled a disappearing act last season with the Knicks, failing to show or notify any member of the organization and taking off for his native Chicago to address “family issues.” Rose has also been quoted in several occasions wondering about what his future may bring and the strong ties to his family preventing his complete focus on basketball.
Rose’s meteoric rise to stardom has met a cruel fate to follow, as the former MVP has sustained a myriad of injuries, which caused him to miss 257 games as a member of the Bulls — including the entirety of the 2012-13 season and most of 2013-14 — before returning a shadow of his former self to a team willing to move on from him.
Most recently, the Cavs put Rose in a walking boot last week, hopeful to take some of the pressure on his left foot. Now he’s dealing with more than just the pressure of his injured foot with his career in the balance.