Derrick Rose was born in Chicago. He starred at Simeon High School in Chicago. And then he became an NBA MVP in Chicago.
He and the city are forever intertwined, and his No. 1 Chicago Bulls jersey will reflect that long-lasting connection in the rafters of the United Center.
Advertisement
The Bulls announced Thursday that Rose’s jersey retirement ceremony will take place on Jan. 24 next year, with the Boston Celtics in town for what’s now a highly-anticipated, regular-season matchup.
Around noon ET on Thursday, TickPick reported that, with a get-in price of $332, the “Derrick Rose Jersey Retirement Night” is the most expensive Bulls home game on record in the online marketplace’s history.
Rose posted a statement to his Instagram story Thursday after the date was set.
“The game has given me more than I ever could have imagined,” the three-time All-Star point guard wrote. “From Englewood to the rafters, my story has always been about making the city proud.”
Advertisement
Rose’s jersey retirement ceremony will occur more than a year after his retirement from the league was celebrated at the United Center on “Derrick Rose Night.”
That day, Jan. 4, 2025, the Bulls announced his jersey would be retired, too, meaning his No. 1 would join Michael Jordan’s No. 23, Scottie Pippen’s No. 33, Jerry Sloan’s No. 4 and Bob Love’s No. 10.
Hour later, during halftime of a Bulls win over the New York Knicks — who Rose played 152 games for across four seasons later in his career — he was showered with praise, most notably from former Bulls and Knicks teammate Joakim Noah.
Advertisement
In fact, Noah’s speech brought Rose to tears.
What followed was a tribute video that Rose directed and his son PJ narrated. Then Rose gave his own speech, which included these words:
“Being great means sometimes you’re going to be disliked,” Rose said. “You have to show courage that [even though] people dislike you or whatever it is, that I’m confident in my choice. I’m confident that I will make it. I want to be great. You want to be great.
“So thank you Chicago for forcing me to be great, putting those expectations on me, not understanding that I was trying to be great the entire time too, and I just didn’t know the environment that I was in that was forcing me to. So thank you for everybody that watched me since I was in sixth grade, seventh grade, eight grade, injuries, MVP, playoff losses, playoff wins, thank you.”
Rose alluded to it there, but injuries were an unfortunate part of his career. They quieted his roaring start with the Bulls, the kind that reinvigorated the franchise.
Still, he played 15 seasons in the NBA.
The first seven of those came in Chicago, where he helped the Bulls make the playoffs six times, including all the way to the Eastern Conference finals as a 62-win team in 2011 while he earned league MVP honors.
