President Obama hasn't 'given up on' Derrick Rose; wants to own NBA team

Could the President become the owner of an NBA team after he leaves office?

By Ananth Pandian

Nov 17, 2015 at 1:05 pm ET • 2 min read

Adding to his injury woes, Derrick Rose sprained his ankle against the Indiana Pacers on Monday night. Since winning the MVP in 2011, Rose's career has been just one injury after the other but he is remaining positive and still has the support of fans like President Barack Obama.

From a GQ interview with the President:

I had to ask you one thing you can’t answer! Here’s one you have to answer: Who’s more untradable, Derrick Rose or Jay Cutler?
[pause] Oh, I think Rose still has more upside. Remember, Rose is still awfully young.

So you haven’t given up on Rose?
I’ve not given up on him. Sadly, I think it’s hard to imagine, after that many injuries, him getting back to his MVP-season performance. But he can still be a top-ten point guard.

Obama lived in Chicago for a while and is a die-hard Bulls fan so you can understand why he is so optimistic about Rose. He is right that Rose is still young at 27 years old and can be at times one of the better point guards in the league. But Rose's injuries have robbed him of his athleticism and so his upside is now quite limited.

This is not the first time that Obama has shown his support for Rose either. Obama attended Chicago's season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers and told TNT's David Aldridge that the Bulls were one of the top two teams in the East and he loved how Rose was playing at the time.

The President was also asked if he would ever want to own an NBA team and he admitted that he has fantasized about the idea before.

Would you ever want to be part of the ownership for an NBA team?
Absolutely.

Would it have to be the Bulls, or would it have to be somebody else?
Well, you know, I know [Jerry] Reinsdorf pretty good—he’s not giving that thing up anytime soon. But I have fantasized about being able to put together a team and how much fun that would be. I think it’d be terrific.

If Obama does ever become an owner, with his past history of trash talk, you have to imagine that he would be very hands-on like Mark Cuban is with the Dallas Mavericks.