April 28, 2012 will be a date that will forever be remembered as the night that changed the trajectory of Derrick Rose’s career.
With 70 seconds left in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference opening round series between the then top-seeded Bulls and eighth-ranked Philadelphia 76ers, Rose drove and planted for a layup– a move that he did plenty of times before.
But this time was different.
Rose landed awkwardly after jumping into the lane, as his left knee buckled and blew out with agony. Pain was shown in the face of the then-reigning MVP.
He knew something had gone terribly wrong.
"Of course, the pop — I knew that I tore it right away. Your nerves start to shake in your leg, and you can't control it. I knew something really happened. Tried to walk — couldn't walk," D-Rose recalled on the devastating injury on the "Out The Mud" podcast with ex-NBA players Zach Randolph and Tony Allen.
The former Bulls star recounted the pain of that career-altering moment in the 2012 NBA postseason. Things quickly turned from bad to worse after the team's medical staff confirmed Rose's worst fear.
“I get out the machine, they tell me that it’s torn. I broke down crying with my mom there,” the 36-year-old revealed.
He added: “After that, I got back to the crib, and for like a year—or even two—it was just hard, bro. Just trying to figure out your rhythm."
Derrick Rose opens up about his ACL injury in 2012 for the first time. 😢
— theScore (@theScore) January 23, 2025
The torn ACL in his left knee kept Rose out of action for the entire 2012-13 season and marked the end of his meteoric rise to superstardom. Once destined to be one of the greatest players to grace the court, Rose’s path was forever altered as he went on to play in six teams in next eight seasons before retiring last September.
[ALSO READ: Former NBA MVP Derrick Rose announces basketball retirement: 'Thank you, my first love']
He admitted that while the physical recovery was already challenging, the mental hurdles added an extra layer of doubt as to whether he could still perform at the highest level.
"You go from that (physical rehab) to mentally having to deal with, like, 'I'm never going to be the same. Like, I'm never going to be the same.' I swear, bro, you ask yourself, 'Can I play through this pain?' Because every day, it's not going to be pain-free when you're dealing with an injury," the youngest MVP in NBA history shared.
A three-time All-Star, Rose also shared the struggles of proving his critics wrong that he can return to elite level of play after the devastating injury.
"You're trying to figure out your rhythm, bro. I was doing that for like four or five years while people were telling me my game wasn't good, that I wasn't the same, that I wasn't the player I used to be," the former No. 1 pick told.
"My numbers were still good—NBA numbers—but they were comparing me to my MVP year and saying I was trash. But the whole time, I was telling them: 'I'm going to get to a place where I'm going to put this all together," he added.
Eventually, the Bulls decided to retire Rose’ no. 1 jersey for his impactful years during his tenure with the franchise.
[ALSO READ: ‘1 of 1’: Chicago Bulls to retire Derrick Rose’s no. 1 jersey]
