Derrick Rose: 5 Most Memorable Career Moments!

The Chicago Bulls are retiring Derrick Rose‘s No. 1 jersey on Saturday in a post-game ceremony at the United Center in Chicago after their contest with the Boston Celtics.

The Bulls are honoring their hometown hero and youngest NBA MVP for his impact and legacy with the franchise and in the city that loves its hoops where he grew up.

Rose, 37, will become the fifth player in Bulls history to receive this honor when No. 1 goes into the rafters on Saturday evening. With that in mind, we wanted to take a look back at the five most memorable moments of his entire career (not just with the Bulls) that led to this special evening in his hometown.

The moment Derrick Rose sees his banner for the first time and is joined by his family, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and Kirk Hinrich pic.twitter.com/0Mh6VGTbXl

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 23, 2026

1. Derrick Makes A National Name For Himself With Meanstreets Express

In the summer of 2006, Rose, a rising senior at Simeon (Chicago), teamed up with Eric Gordon, another supremely talented guard from North Central (Indianapolis), to form one of the best backcourt duos ever seen on a summer travel ball team. The Class of 2007 is one of the best ever produced, and Rose and Gordon shared the spotlight with names that summer, such as Kevin Love of the SoCal All-Stars, O.J. Mayo of the D1 Greyhounds, and Michael Beasley of D.C. Assault.

The debate raged all summer as to who was the nation’s best prospect in that class. Many felt it was Love, some felt it was Beasley, Mayo had the most publicity, but Rose and Gordon were arguably the most spectacular. Meanstreets Express packed gyms and took home the 2006 Nike Peach Jam, as Gordon scored 25 points in the title game while Rose added 13 points, four rebounds and six assists.

Even though Meanstreets was on the wrong side of a loss to the D1 Greyhounds in a memorable game at the Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, he was already a nationally known figure. His final travel ball tournament that summer cemented Rose’s status as a grassroots basketball legend and as one of the most explosive point guards anyone had ever evaluated up to that point.

2. Derrick Leads Memphis On NCAA Tournament Run

The Memphis Tigers ultimately lost one of the great national championship games of all time to Kansas in 2008, but John Calipari and Rose combined to produce one of the most dominant seasons we’ve ever seen in college basketball. Memphis began the season ranked No. 3 in the country and went on to win its first 26 (!) games, claiming the No. 1 ranking in the process. The Tigers’ lone loss of the season came against No. 2 Tennessee, 66-62, in one of the most anticipated regular-season games in recent memory.

As a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Memphis cruised in the first round against Texas-Arlington before surviving a thriller against No. 8 seed Mississippi State in the Round of 32. The Tigers turned it up after that scare, beating No. 5 seed Michigan State by 18 in the Sweet 16, No. 2 seed Texas in the Elite 8, and No. 3 seed UCLA by 15 in the Final Four to advance to the national championship game.

As fate would have it, Rose missed a crucial free throw in the closing seconds of the title game, and Mario Chalmers tied the game on a 3-pointer that will forever live in infamy.

On August 20, 2009, the NCAA vacated Memphis’ entire season and NCAA championship game run. Rose’s SAT score was invalidated after the season and it was learned his brother Reggie Rose was allowed to travel with the team for free. In light of what’s transpired with the NCAA and its eligibility rules and the de-emphasis on the SAT in the years since, do Rose’s fans even care about an NCAA ruling? Does that really wipe out the season Rose and his teammates had or the memories of that memorable NCAA tourney run?

3. Derrick Is Drafted No. 1 Overall By The Hometown Chicago Bulls

Chicago had only a 1.7 percent chance of winning the NBA Draft lottery in 2008, but some “divine” intervention led to a miracle that saw the Bulls win the lottery with Rose, a son of Chicago, slated to be the runaway No. 1 pick in the draft. The rest was history. The Bulls went for the cat-quick, explosive guard without much of a second thought after his lone season at Memphis.

For the Bulls, the opportunity to pick Rose was a revelation. The post-Jordan years had been a complete nightmare for the organization to that point, so the idea that a kid who was the most famous high school basketball player in the city since Benji Wilson was coming home to start his NBA career was truly an injection of life into a franchise that desperately needed it.

4. Derrick Is The Youngest Ever NBA MVP At 22

All the potential and talent that Rose had shown as a younger player coming up through the ranks at Simeon and with Meanstreets Express reached its zenith when Rose was named the 2010-11 NBA MVP. At 22 years and 6 months old, Rose became the youngest MVP in league history, wearing the uniform of his hometown team.

He was only the third player since 1972-73 to have 2,000 points and 600 assists in a single season, joining Michael Jordan and LeBron James. At such a young age, he was playing at a level few in the game were, and the possibilities seemed endless to the heights his game could reach. In what’s now looked back upon as one of the NBA’s most talent-laden eras, a youthful Rose stood above giants for a single season.

It’s hard to look back and not wonder what could have been if Rose never suffered that first fateful knee injury in the closing minutes of the Bulls’ Game 1 win over the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2012 Eastern Conference Playoffs.

5. Derrick’s Defining 50-Point Game To Open The 2018-19 Season

It’s no secret that the post-ACL years brought plenty of hardship for Rose. As a player who relied on his first step, the loss of explosiveness often proved costly. However, on Halloween night in 2018, Rose turned back the clock in a Minnesota Timberwolves jersey and poured in a career-high 50 points to beat the Utah Jazz, 128-125.

It was fitting that the Timberwolves wore vintage uniforms that night, because the 30-year-old put on a vintage performance. According to ESPN Stats and Info, Rose became the oldest player in NBA history to record their first 50-point game that evening.

Rose made 19-of-31 attempts from the field that night and bared his emotions on the court in the postgame interview. To make matters sweeter, the point guard sealed the win by blocking Dante Exum‘s game-tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer.