When the report leaked out of Phoenix that the Suns would be interested in Derrick Rose if he were bought out, it was clearly an attempt by some around the Suns to put an idea in Rose’s head. He has fallen out of the Knicks rotation — the two minutes he played Saturday were his first of 2023 — and the suggestion he would have a bigger role in a lineup with Kevin Durant was clear (even if the Suns are set at the point).
That message didn’t get through to Rose. He seemed oblivious and uninterested in pregame comments Saturday, via Peter Botte of the New York Post.“No, I haven’t talked to anybody about that. I haven’t talked to anyone,” Rose said... when asked if he had considered seeking a buyout. “I haven’t even thought about it. I’m locked in to my thing right now. It’s kind of hard to think about something that I’ve never pursued and never talked about with them.”
“No. Y’all heard something? I’ve just been locked in, doing my recovery. [I] talk to Thibs about the team, talk to Leon about the team, but other than that, I haven’t talked to them about [a buyout],” Rose said. “I think that we’ve been so transparent in the past that if I was thinking about moving, or they was to move me somewhere, they’d give me a heads up.”
Rose said he was also not worried about being moved around the trade deadline, when he was dangled as a contract that could be traded, saying Leon Rose and team management didn’t talk to him.
Players must be waived by March 1 to be available for the playoff roster of any team that picks them up. It doesn’t sound like Rose or the Knicks are moving toward that outcome.
Rose likely will be a free agent this summer, it is highly unlikely the Knicks will pick up his $15.6 million team option for next season. The Suns can sign him then, if they still want.
