Derrick Rose Is Reportedly Re-Evaluating His NBA Career

A career filled with constant debilitating injuries and one disappointing season after another is apparently taking its toll on Derrick Rose.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin reported on Friday that Rose is away from the Cavaliers as the team prepares for a home game against Charlotte, and that there is apparently "growing uncertainty" from inside and outside the organization about whether he'll return to Cleveland at all. Rose has reportedly been away from the team since Monday's win over the Pistons.

The former No. 1 overall pick's lengthy and persistent injury history, which has plagued him throughout the majority of his NBA career, has turned into an issue quite difficult for Rose to cope with, causing him to seriously re-evaluate his future and question his desire to continue his NBA career, according to Wojnarowski, who said the 29-year-old is "tired of playing hurt."

Rose—who apparently has been "non-communicative to multiple people close to him inside and outside of the Cavaliers in recent days"—won Rookie of the Year in 2009 and became the youngest player ever to win an NBA MVP award in 2010-11. Since then, a nightmarish slate of ailments have turned the three-time All-Star's career upside down.

Following his historic MVP season, Rose tore the ACL in his left knee during the playoffs in 2012. After sitting out for nearly a year and a half, Rose's highly anticipated return came to a heartbreaking end as he tore his right meniscus just 10 games into the season. He took one more stab at it with the Chicago Bulls when he returned in 2015, but re-tore the same right meniscus and was sidelined once again.

Flipped to the Knicks in the summer of 2016, the fresh start Rose hoped for simply became an extension of his difficult tenure in Chicago. He struggled his way through a mediocre season numbers-wise before having to go under the knife once again to repair yet another torn meniscus—his fourth major knee surgery since 2012.

Another new beginning as the starting point guard with Lebron James' perennial-contending Cavaliers seemed like an ideal place for Rose to rejuvenate his career this season, but he almost instantly suffered an ankle injury that left him on the sidelines for four games and was shelved yet again with another ailment just five contests after he returned on Oct. 29. He's been out since Nov. 7 and was expected to need at least a couple weeks of recovery.

Now it seems Rose, who is averaging career lows of 26.9 minutes, 14.3 points, and 1.7 assists per game through seven contests, is at yet another crossroad in his once highly-promising basketball career.