Minutes after the start of Monday's game between the New York Knicks and the New Orleans Pelicans at Madison Square Garden, New York's personal relations team announced that Derrick Rose was "not with the team." No further explanation was given by team, and reason for that could be because the Knicks themselves had no idea where Rose was.
According to The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski, Rose was at shootaround but did not tell anyone in the Knicks organization that he had to miss the game. Rose didn't even tell any of his teammates -- like good friend Joakim Noah -- about his whereabouts. Wojnarowski also adds that Rose was "privately fuming" after Knicks coach Horancek benched him in a win to the Bucks on Friday and their player-coach relationship "has been frayed."
Team officials were unable to reach Rose by phone - nor get answers from his closest confidants - in the immediate time prior to the opening tip, league sources told The Vertical
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Rose, who'll be a free agent this summer, has been increasingly frustrated with how this Knicks season has unfolded, culminating with him privately fuming over his diminished late-game role in Friday night's victory in Milwaukee, sources said. Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek played undrafted rookie Ron Baker over Rose in the fourth quarter.
Rose's relationship with Hornacek has been frayed in recent weeks, league sources told The Vertical.
This is an extremely odd situation, especially since Rose was at shootaround. But the good news is that after losing 110-96 to the Pelicans, Noah told reporters that Rose is doing okay.
Joakim just said everything is okay with D. Rose. Says he spoke to him after the game but won't share the conversation: "He's okay."
— Nick Metallinos (@NickMetallinos) January 10, 2017
But the news of his mysterious absence doesn't stop there. According to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, Rose may have left New York and traveled to his hometown Chicago.
There are strong indications that Derrick Rose returned to his hometown of Chicago.
— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) January 10, 2017
Jeff Hornacek told reporters that the Knicks expect Rose to re-join the team at some point.
Hornacek: "Right now we don't have information to give you anything. That's just going to have to wait until we hear from Derrick himself."
— Mike Vorkunov (@Mike_Vorkunov) January 10, 2017
Hornacek said Knicks expect him back. Says he can't say any more. "We're not going to go into it. Everything will become clear later on."
— Mike Vorkunov (@Mike_Vorkunov) January 10, 2017
Hornacek said too early to comment much on Rose: "Everything will become clear later on. We want to respect whatever he's going through."
— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) January 10, 2017
According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, Rose did leave without permission but he did inform the Knicks that he had to attend to a family matter, which may be why he possibly could be in Chicago.
Re Derrick Rose: Sources tell ESPN he left w/out permission but has subsequently been in touch with team officials.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 10, 2017
According to sources Rose told the team he had a family situation.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 10, 2017
First off, it is good to hear that Rose is fine, and that nothing has happened to him. Let's hope everything is indeed okay with him and his family.
But if Rose is not at the game because he's angry about getting benched against the Bucks or because of a fallout, then not informing anyone is a strange way to express your frustration with Hornacek. Also, Rose is a free agent in the summer and if he does indeed want to re-sign with the Knicks like he says he does, then not telling anyone you're going to miss a game won't help your cause in the least bit.
Rose has always been an enigmatic person yet his absence is disconcerting and quite strange. But if everything is fine with him as Noah suggests, Rose has some serious explaining to do and his future with the Knicks may be in jeopardy.
