In NBA history there have been many “what ifs concerning players who have been Hall of Famers; however, something went wrong to prevent them from reaching that status.
It is depressing to wonder how great Derrick Rose could have been if an injury never struck, considering how great he already was. After 16 seasons in the NBA, Rose retired on September 26, 2024, at the age of 35. The former NBA MVP was on a trajectory to become the greatest point guard in NBA history until the first game of the 2012 playoffs; Rose attempted to jump off two feet and tore his ACL. In basketball, an ACL injury is career-altering, and in extreme cases career ending.
Derrick Rose had a short stint before his injury; however, in this short amount of time, he managed to break very impressive records. He became the youngest player to win the MVP award at the age of 22 and 191 days old. The last player before Derrick Rose to break that record was Wes Unseld in 1981. Rose’s record still stands to this day 13 years later. After a career-altering injury, he rose to the challenge on Halloween day in 2018 and dropped a career-high 50 points against the Utah Jazz. During the post-game interview, Rose was emotional and said, “This means everything man” and teared up.
To this day current NBA players like Ja Morant still take inspiration from Derrick Rose’s playstyle on the court. At the modest height of 6 ‘3, Rose was able to dunk or lay the ball over virtually any defender on the court, this type of playstyle was adored by countless fans and quickly cemented Rose as many people’s favorite player of all time. Unfortunately, many people say Rose is not projected to be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame.