Derrick Rose has returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers after leaving the team to contemplate retirement, and the former NBA MVP insists he was not financially motivated in any way.
Reports have indicated that Rose has somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 million remaining on his endorsement deal with Adidas, and he would have lost that money if he called it a career. While meeting with the media on Friday, the point guard adamantly denied taking that into consideration.
“Man, I don’t care about — not to be rude — I don’t care about no f—ing money,” Rose said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. “It’s not about that. I’ve saved up enough money. It’s not about that. If I wanted to leave, I would have left. Like I said, coming back here, starting with rehab that’s my first step. Keeping it simple and just giving my team support and then I’ll see what I see off the court.”
Rose thanked the Cavs organization for allowing him “my privacy to keep my right state of mind and to keep my happiness.” When a reporter asked if he requested a trade during his hiatus, Rose said it never crossed his mind.
“No, no, no, no, no, no. Trade? No,” he replied. “Come on, man. I’m on one of the best teams in the league? Why would I ask to get traded? They gave me every opportunity and still are going to give me every opportunity that I would want from any other team too and that’s just to hoop. I just want to hoop.”
Rose suffered a sprained ankle on Oct. 20. He is hoping rest and rehab will allow it to fully heal, but he acknowledged that surgery is not out of the question.
“I got a bone spur that I didn’t tell anybody, but I was just trying to process all that myself,” he explained. It’s all about first getting the area to calm down and then strengthening your leg back up again. So, afterwards, we may have to have a procedure but who knows.”
One of the reasons Rose is said to have contemplated retirement is that he is tired of dealing with injuries. Multiple knee surgeries have already derailed what once appeared to be a Hall of Fame career, so you can understand the frustration. Recall that Rose also went AWOL for a brief time while he was with the New York Knicks last season.
In the seven games he appeared in this season, Rose averaged 14.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists. If he can get healthy and keep those numbers going, he would provide the Cavs with a big boost.
