Chicago will retire Derrick Rose’s No. 1 Bulls jersey on Saturday, January 24 following their matchup with the Celtics.
As a child growing up in Chicago, Derrick Rose witnessed greatness inside the United Center, seeing Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen lead his hometown team to six NBA titles.
On Saturday night in Chicago, Rose will join greatness inside the United Center as his No. 1 jersey is raised to the rafters, hanging alongside the likes of Jordan’s No. 23 and Pippen’s No. 33.
But the journey to Saturday’s jersey retirement was not that simple. It faced long odds and countless challenges along the way — beginning on May 20, 2008.
1.7%. Those were the odds the Chicago Bulls faced entering the NBA Draft lottery. Somehow, the Bulls defied those odds — leaping from ninth to first — to win the rights to the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.
The top prospect on the board was a local kid from the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side — an ultra-athletic, dynamic 6-foot-3 guard named Derrick Rose.
Growing up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the city, Rose immersed himself in the game to avoid the many pitfalls surrounding him on a daily basis. He spent countless hours on the blacktop; Murray Park was his de facto home court, where he’d work on his game and pursue a dream.
Derrick Rose goes back to his childhood playground in Chicago
He made everyone take notice in high school, when he suited up for Simeon Career Academy and led the Wolverines to back-to-back state titles (’06-07). That included then-University of Memphis head coach John Calipari.
“Went to the high school and I watched him and I’m like, ‘I gotta have this guy,’” Calipari said. “He was so fast. If he ever got the ball stolen from him, it was getting pinned on the other end. He had that floater, even back then, the one, two floater. I had to get him out of the gym. When he first got to campus, he’d be in there for five, six hours.”
As a freshman, Rose led the Tigers to the NCAA Final Four, where they came up just short of winning the program’s first-ever national championship. While Memphis finished as the tournament’s runner-up, Rose had put more people on notice — NBA scouts who had him at the top of their draft boards heading into June.
“With the first pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls select Derrick Rose.” Those words from then-NBA Commissioner David Stern made it official: the kid from Chicago, who grew up a Bulls fan idolizing the 1990s Bulls teams led by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, would be suiting up in Bulls Red, White and Black.
“I’m playing at the highest basketball level, in my hometown, man, that’s amazing,” said Rose on draft night.
“Inner-city kid out of the city of Chicago to being drafted by the Chicago Bulls; you couldn’t even write a script better than that,” said LeBron James, who had a similar story in 2003 when the kid from Akron, Ohio, was drafted by the nearby Cleveland Cavaliers.
An NBA career quickly blossoms in full
Rose was a sensation in Chicago and across the basketball universe the moment he stepped foot on the United Center court as a Bulls rookie. His game jumped off the screen. The combination of speed, skill, athleticism, explosiveness and fearlessness made him a fan favorite from Day 1.
The race for Rookie of the Year was not close. Rose earned 111 of the 120 first-place votes from the media panel after averaging 16.8 points, 6.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds over 81 games. Rose sparked an eight-win improvement in Chicago, leading the Bulls back to the postseason, where a signature moment awaited.
On April 18, 2009, in Game 1 of the First Round against the defending champion Celtics in Boston, Rose put on a show for the ages in his playoff debut – finishing with 36 points and 11 assists to lead Chicago to a 105-103 win.
“I just never in my life saw anyone that explosive,” said then-Celtic (and future Bulls teammate) Brian Scalabrine. “So watching him, he’s cooking us, and we’re supposed to be a championship-level team. To show up in the Garden and do that, that’s what legends are made of.”
While Chicago lost that series in seven games, Rose and the Bulls had put the league on notice that a new contender was emerging in the Eastern Conference.
There would be no sophomore slump for Rose, who made the leap from Rookie of the Year in 2009 to NBA All-Star in 2010, while delivering another signature moment etched into the memories of Bulls fans around the world.
Derrick Rose talks about his most iconic dunk
That dunk over Goran Dragic in Phoenix on Jan. 22, 2010, was ready-made for NBA Twitter, becoming a viral moment with fans engaging with the game on their phones more and more.
“I had never seen a point guard dunk on somebody like that,” said teammate Joakim Noah.
Rose finished the season averaging 20.8 points, 6.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds, but the Bulls suffered a second straight first-round exit in the playoffs. That disappointment fueled Rose to take his game to new heights. And he was not shy about letting everyone know what was coming in Year 3.
“Why can’t I be the MVP of the league? Why can’t I be the best player in the league? I don’t see why, why, why can’t I do that?” Rose said on Media Day when asked about his expectations entering the 2010-11 season. “I think I work hard. I think I dedicate myself to the game, and sacrifice a lot of things at a young age. And I know that if I continue to do good, what I can get out of it.”
Rose called his shot. And then he went out on the court and backed it up.
He ranked in the top 10 in both scoring (career-high 25.0 points per game, seventh) and playmaking (then career-high 7.7 assists per game, 10th) while leading the Bulls to the top of the Eastern Conference standings. The Bulls finished 62-20 – matching the record set 13 seasons prior by Chicago’s Last Dance season in 1997-98 – and entered the playoffs as the East’s No. 1 seed.
A historic award
On May 3, 2011, Rose made history, becoming the NBA’s youngest Most Valuable Player at just 22 years old – a distinction previously held by Wes Unseld at 23 in 1969. Rose ran away with the award, earning 113 of the 120 first-place votes.
“As a competitor, at that time when he was ruling the East, I had nothing but respect and a humble fear going against D-Rose,” said James, who won MVP honors the previous two (and next two) seasons. “His talent, his speed, his athleticism, his craftiness, his mind. There’s no surprise why he was the youngest, and still is the youngest, MVP in NBA history. The guy was simply that great.”
Derrick Rose becomes the NBA's youngest MVP in 2011 and honors his mom with a moving speech
Rose’s Bulls met James and the new-look Miami Heat in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals – Chicago’s deepest playoff run since their last championship in 1998. But Chicago’s run ended in five games as the Heat advanced to the Finals, once again fueling Rose to return even better the following season.
Injury strikes, stalling the ascension
The 2011-12 season began with a Christmas Day game-winner from Rose as he once again led the Bulls to the top record in the East — 50-16 in the lockout-shortened season, Chicago’s top win percentage (.758) since the 1996-97 title run. Eager to make a championship run of their own, the Bulls entered the first round against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Then, disaster struck.
In the closing minutes of a Game 1 victory, Rose was lost for the remainder of the playoffs with a torn left ACL. It was a move he had executed countless times before — drive into the lane, jump-stop, and elevate. But this time, he came crashing down to the court in pain.
The injury not only ended Rose’s season, it ended Chicago’s championship hopes as the Bulls fell to Philly in six games. It set up a year of recovery for Rose and marked the beginning of a long-term battle with injuries that would impact the remainder of his career.
After missing the entire 2012-13 season, Rose returned to the court to start the 2013-14 season. But his comeback was quickly thwarted by another injury — a torn meniscus, this time in his right knee on Nov. 12, 2013, that would require season-ending surgery. Once again faced with a challenge, Rose worked his way back to the court to start the 2014-15 season.
Rose had been on a vicious cycle of injury and recovery for two-plus years, but had begun the 2014-15 season appearing in 46 of Chicago’s first 57 games — averaging 18.4 points and 5.0 assists. Then, on Feb. 24, 2015, he was once again diagnosed with a torn right meniscus that would require surgery. It was the worst case of déjà vu.
“I think the true measure of a man is how well you can handle adversity, and he showed what his character is all about,” said then Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. “He’s beloved.”
Rather than wallow in despair, Rose did what he had always done — he got to work. Just six weeks after surgery, Rose returned for the Bulls on April 8, 2015, using the final five games of the regular season to gear up for another playoff run.
The return that beat the clock
On May 8, 2015, the stage was set for another iconic Rose moment. The Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Bulls and Cavs was tied at 1-1 and Game 3 in Chicago was tied at 96 with three seconds left.
The Bulls had possession and everybody inside the United Center knew where the ball was going. Rose caught the inbounds pass on the move, took two dribbles and elevated for a pull-up 3-pointer that banked in as the buzzer sounded. The shot elicited a Mike Breen “Bang!” on the broadcast and gave Chicago a 99-96 win.
Derrick Rose hits an instantly iconic buzzer beater in the 2015 playoffs.
Noah embraced Rose near the Bulls bench, lifting Rose into the air as his teammates rushed to surround him. While everyone in the building was going wild, Rose wore a stoic expression across his face — almost as if to say, “Of course I made the shot. That’s what I do.”
“This comes with the territory of being a leader,” said after the game. “You got to be able to take these shots. I feel very confident in my game and my ability to make shots.”
It was the type of shot you dream of as a kid. For Rose, who grew up seeing Jordan ignite the United Center crowd with game-winning buckets, it was his turn to send his hometown fans into a frenzy, creating a core memory that will live forever.
Rose moved on, but a legacy remains
While the memories will last, Rose’s time in Chicago did not. After falling in the East Semifinals in 2015, the Bulls did not make the playoffs in 2016. Following that season, Rose was traded to New York, as he played the latter half of his career with the Knicks, Cavaliers, Timberwolves, Pistons, and Grizzlies — ending his career in the city where he played his college ball 16 years prior.
A few months after announcing his retirement on Sept. 26, 2024, the Bulls celebrated Derrick Rose Night at the United Center on Jan. 4, 2025. With many of his former teammates traveling to celebrate his career, the Bulls announced that they would retire Rose’s No. 1 jersey during the 2025-26 season.
Rose’s No. 1 will hang next to Jordan’s No. 23, Pippen’s No. 33, Bob Love’s No. 5 and Jerry Sloan’s No. 4, as Rose becomes only the fifth Bull honored with a jersey retirement.
“I’m still in a daze [about being told],” Rose said after the announcement. “But it’s not about that [honored next to Jordan and Pippen]. 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, celebrating everyone.
“I understand coming from Chicago that it’s tough love. I had expectations on me ever since I was younger; sixth grade, everybody said I was going to the league. Ever since then, to live up to those expectations and to not feel like they were a burden at the time, I felt like they were all challenges.”
Among the Bulls legends that Rose will join on Saturday, he is the only one from Chicago — the hometown kid earning one of the game’s top honors.
“Chicago, of all places, you know the history of this place, the pain of this place, the love in this place, the passion for their sports — like Chicago, it’s different,” said Noah. “And the way that Derrick was able to represent that, I think a lot of people gravitated [to] and respected that.”
