Earlier this week, there were reports stemming out that former All-Star point guard Derrick Rose had begun serious discussion centered around a possible one-year deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
However, the emergence of the Los Angeles Lakers in the picture has clouded up the 28-year-old’s decision-making process. According to Chris Haynes of ESPN, the Cavaliers are set to meet with Rose in the coming days with his decision expected to come at some point next week.
The Cavaliers only began to pursue Rose this week as he had previously met with the Milwaukee Bucks and L.A. Clippers, but nothing truly materialize in either situation. The increased push from Cleveland likely comes after reports a few days ago stated that LeBron James had some growing frustration about how the front office has operated this offseason.
The Lakers had met with Rose on Thursday afternoon for approximately three hours that reportedly went well. Los Angeles is hoping to sell the former league MVP on the premise that he can get more playing time in a better environment than was provided in his first year with the New York Knicks. They also hold the edge of being able to offer up to $4.3 million, which is almost double what the Cavaliers can present him.
Cleveland has $2.5M of the tax ML remaining and the minimum exception available. The minimum for Rose is $2.1M ($1.5M cap hit). https://t.co/QY9v0nnhzE
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 20, 2017
Despite the injury concerns, Rose would provide the Knicks with a proven scorer off the bench that could lead the second unit in a fashion that Deron Williams was unable to do after joining the team last season.
Rose is coming off a productive first campaign with the Knicks where he averaged 18.0 points on 47.1 percent shooting from the field along with 4.4 assists and 3.8 rebounds in 32.5 minutes in 64 games played.
