Derrick Rose will forever be one of the best athletes to ever grace an NBA court. Unstoppable explosiveness, impeccable coordination, and terrific vision make him one of the best point guards in the league.
That is, when he's on the floor.
The Bulls star has battled injuries during nearly every season of his career — playing only about a third of possible games since 2011 — which has shrouded his career in disappointment, what-ifs, and brutal Internet memes. When he does play, though, he is arguably the best in the building.
In the summer of 2017, the 5-year $94 million contract he signed back in 2012 will come to an end, and everything is pointing to Rose's time in his hometown of Chicago ending along with it.
This tragic divorce will most likely not hurt the Bulls all that much. He is the highest paid player on the roster -– making around $18 million a year –– which will free up a lot of space for future free agents to take his place. They have already proven that they can contend without him, and they seem to be moving in a different direction, especially with a new contract extension for budding star guard Jimmy Butler.
Rose's future, however, is a totally different story. The Bulls are one of the biggest franchises in the world, rated as the fourteenth most valuable sports franchise in the world by Forbes, and the most valuable in the city of Chicago. The media scrutiny in Chicago is among the worst in the country. Pair that with the fact that he was a first overall pick in the draft--he has had a lot of pressure to overcome and hype to live up to.
At this point, it would be best for him to get out of a big market. With his history of a fragile body, he has always been pressured by fans and the media to get back on the floor too early, making it easy for him to get sent right back to the hospital. That would be much less likely happen if he were not in a Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, or Philadelphia.
Next, he should not go to a contender. He will most likely be the starting man at the point wherever he goes, but he is at the point in his career where he cannot be the star a team relies on to win a championship (for the sake of the team, at least).
This all depends on how he fares over this season and the next. As of right now, he is recovering from a pair of injuries he sustained over the past few months, which hurts his stock tremendously. He has been playing this season with a mask due to an orbital fracture, and he recently sprained his left ankle.
Beyond all that, there is not much to say for the future of Derrick Rose. He is still one of the best players in the league (when he is healthy), and sometimes a change of scenery really lets a guy thrive. But Rose's career has been filled with such unpredictable twists and turns both on and off the court, there is no way to tell how this will really go. We will never truly know what is in store for D-Rose until next summer, and so much can happen between now and then.
