That’s the end of the road for Derrick Rose. His story is undoubtedly one of the “what could’ve been” stories of the NBA. 1 ROTY, 1 MVP, and 8 surgeries later, it was time for Rose to douse the curtain down on his career finally, something he shared with numerous future first ballot Hall of Famers. LeBron James is certainly one of them, and it was only fitting for the former Cavs teammate to send a tribute.

Derrick Rose only shared the court with LeBron James in 16 games for the Cleveland side. But in their one season together, a mutual respect was woven between the duo. Remember that 50-point game by Rose against the Jazz? LeBron called that game a testament to Rose’s fighting spirit after overcoming numerous injuries. Derrick Rose also returned the favor when he admitted to following LeBron during the training and games to study him closely. That’s what their bond was like, and LeBron’s message made it clear that it is still intact.

Following the news of Derrick Rose’s retirement, LeBron took to IG to show his love and respect for the 35-year-old. The Lakers star shared Rose’s retirement announcement post of his story and wrote, “Much love and respect Pooh!!! Salute”, in the captions. In three more separate stories, LeBron added, “Forever”, “Immortalized”, and a GOAT emoji. On Wednesday, the former Grizzlies star announced his retirement on social media. He captioned the post, “The psychological assumption automatically provides the means to fulfill the dream desire.” Rose highlighted basketball as his “first love” and left a heartfelt note.

“You believed in me through the highs and lows, my constant when everything else seemed uncertain. You showed me what love truly meant. You turned the court into my sanctuary, a home where I could express myself freely,” Rose wrote. The former Bulls guard concluded by adding, “You told me it’s okay to say goodbye, reassuring me that you’ll always be a part of me, no matter where life takes me.” 

In his illustrious NBA journey, Rose showed the talent rivalling the greats of the game but his injuries always kept him from breaking the ceiling. His 2011 MVP award is still a matter of debate in the hoops community, as many believe LeBron should’ve been the winner. So when the two came together in the Cavs, it became a point of intrigue and a story that told itself.

Derrick Rose and his struggles with the Cleveland Cavaliers

2010 was a special year. Even before the season began, the offseason was buzzing as LeBron James became a free agent. And to add icing on the cake, Dwyane Wade was also in the free agency. Both of them could’ve gone to the Chicago Bulls that year and teamed up with Derrick Rose. “Chicago was on the top of both of our lists. They had to offer two max contracts, and they had a young D Rose,” D Wade recalled. But as we know, only the Heat had that sort of money and the duo instead headed to Miami. Rose also tried to recruit LeBron to Bulls but that didn’t work out due to the lack of support from the franchise, according to Pooh.

So when they ultimately teamed up with the Cavs in 2017, the world finally got what they were asking for years. Things didn’t go according to plan though. Rose picked up an ankle injury in November and was out of action for two months. He even contemplated the decision to retire but chose to soldier on. The situation was an awkward one for Rose nonetheless. No, not the injury but siding with LeBron after being his rival for years. “I was just trying to make it back to the league, man. I had to sign with a team that I had battled with for four or five years. I played with a player I battled with for four or five years in LeBron,” Rose said in an interview with The Athletic.

“Come on, man. It was super awkward, but that was my only way back.” Then Cavs HC, Ty Lue, used Rose for all of 16 games before his trade to the Jazz, followed by signing with the Timberwolves. The 2008 first-round draft pick only managed to score 9.8 points per game from 43.9% shooting in those games. It was in Minnesota where Rose finally revived his career and after powering on for another 6 years, it was finally time for him to pull the plug on his playing days.