On Wednesday January 22nd, 2016 the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks made a very interesting trade. The Chicago Bulls traded arguably the face of their franchise Derrick Rose along with Justin Holiday and a 2017 second round pick to the Knicks for Robin Lopez, Jośe Calderón, and Jerian Grant.
Many people, especially Chicago Bulls fans, were extremely mad and shocked by the trade. Derrick Rose was born in Chicago and his career became one that people only dreamed of. After being picked first overall by his hometown team he became an amazing player and was the youngest player in NBA history to win a NBA MVP award. But with Derrick Rose suffering many career shortening injuries and only playing in 166 of a possible 410 regular season games in the last five years many people thought it was time for the Chicago Bulls to give up on their MVP and give Derrick Rose a change of scenery.
For the Chicago Bulls this trade does make since, but it will still affect them negatively. Like previously mentioned Derrick Rose has not been healthy for the past five years, and because of this he has not been able to help his team near as much as they were use to. They are getting a point guard who has proven to be a decent role player in Jośe Calderón and they also received a center who can help them in Robin Lopez. But Derrick Rose finally became healthy at the end of the 2015-2016 NBA season and he was helping the Chicago Bulls more than their new role players ever could. They have a more secure team that will more than likely stay healthy. But they simply gave up a former MVP who is only 27 years old for role players who are ultimately irrelevant.
For the New York Knicks this is an amazing trade. This trade is risky for sure, but Derrick Rose only has one year left on his contract. If Derrick Rose gets injured once again, or his playing style does not fit into the New York Knicks system they could let him go and as a result save $14 million+ in cap space and attempt to get other big name players. Also with the Knicks signing Derrick Rose it gives the Knicks a bigger chance of signing a big free agent this offseason. Kevin Durant was quoted saying “Obviously they have a good team now with D-Rose and Melo and Porzingis, so I will talk to my team and we will figure things out,” The Knicks will also have a better opportunity of signing the 3x Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard and more than likely become a playoff team, and possibly title contenders. The New York Knick’s future just got undeniably brighter.
