Derrick Rose is not back to taking the floor, but he is back with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The veteran point guard ended his self-imposed exile from the team earlier this week, one in which he reportedly took some time to wonder if he wanted to continue playing basketball anymore at the risk of suffering more injuries.
Ultimately, Rose decided it would be worth continuing his career, and he returned to the Cavaliers with the hopes of rehabilitating the ankle injury that initially kept him sidelined. There’s no timetable for his return to the floor, but before that, Rose felt the urge to apologize to his teammates.
According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, Rose addressed the team at a shootaround before the Cavs played the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.
“He didn’t have to, but he did,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said of Rose’s message to the team. “He asked me could he talk to the team before we started shootaround and addressed the team. Everyone welcomed him back and is happy he is here, and that’s it.”
As the source added, “It wasn’t a big deal and didn’t need to be.”
LeBron James had said that the entire team wanted Rose to do whatever was best for him, so it’s no surprise that the team welcomed him back into the fold with open arms.
