2019 NBA free agency: 5 potential landing spots for Derrick Rose

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(Photo by Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Following a bounce-back 2018-19 campaign with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the market for Derrick Rose in 2019 NBA free agency isn’t crystal clear.

The basketball story of Derrick Rose has been well told for a number of years. An early rise to superstardom predated multiple long-term injuries that sent Rose under the knife and robbed the NBA world of his incredible talent.

In looking to rediscover anything that resembled his former MVP self, he bounced around the league’s landscape, playing for anyone that would give him an opportunity. After being cut by the Utah Jazz following a deadline deal in 2018, the next team to give him a shot would be the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Led by his former coach in Tom Thibodeau, Rose would struggle to close out the 2017-18 regular season but managed to earn another one-year deal after an encouraging playoff run. The agreement seemed more like a loyalty play by Thibs more than anything, a blind move of faith for a player who had meant so much during his inaugural run as a head coach with the Chicago Bulls.

By that point in time, nobody quite knew exactly what Rose had left in the tank. His explosive tendencies would flare up from time to time, but by and large, he looked a shell of himself, an inefficient, oft-injured non-shooter at the most important position in basketball.

Some probably thought he should’ve simply retired, disappeared with a fortune behind him. Rose has always persevered through the physical struggles the basketball gods have bestowed upon him, and in 2018-19, he showed us why.

Rose would average 18.0 points and 4.3 assists in just 27.3 minutes per game last season. He’ll never be the athlete he once was, but he’s trying to make up for it in other ways, having shot a career-best 37.0 percent from beyond the arc.

His health was still a problem in missing 31 games. It’s an issue that may never fully be resolved, which could factor into contract negotiations regarding both the length and overall salary of the deal. In a summer where the cash is flowing and not everyone can land an A-list superstar, there has to be a team willing to give this guy a shot given what he just proved this past season.