We may never know the exact reason why Derrick Rose disappeared before Monday’s loss to the Pelicans, but his explanation, while vague, is simple and unwavering. He left his team to be with his mother in Chicago, because “My family is first,” as he told The Vertical on Friday. The cost of putting family first, in case you’re wondering, is reportedly just under $200,000. To be precise, the amount that the Knicks are fining Rose is $193,848 — 1/110th of his $21.3 million salary or “the amount of the fine for missing a game,” according to Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek.
Sound unfair? Maybe, but Rose doesn’t care what we think. He’d do it all over again, if he had to.
“I didn’t make the decision off the strength of people caring about what I did. I went home, did what I had to do, because my family is before anything. I was going to take the fine of whatever it may be.”
Rose still wants to sign a new deal with the Knicks when his contract ends after this season, and he claims that Knicks execs, including Phil Jackson, know and understand why he was gone. And if your guess, like mine and many others, is that he’s just really, really homesick and he was emotional about being benched (multiple times), Rose says we’re all wrong.
“I know I left room for that, like space for people to think like that, but [Monday’s incident] had nothing to do with it. It doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Rose told The Vertical. “The great thing is, [Knicks president Phil Jackson and general manager Steve Mills], they knew exactly what it was and they knew where I was coming from. We had an understanding after I talked to [them].”
Carmelo Anthony also told The Vertical that once Rose came clean with his teammates and assured them his vanishing act wasn’t related to him being benched in back-to-back games they welcomed him back with open arms. So, really, there’s nothing else left to this than getting over the fact that Rose doesn’t care he just lost $193,848. That could buy a lot of cool stuff, like 48,000 boxes of Bagel Bites. Must be nice.
