The Chicago Bulls reportedly would "love" to trade Derrick Rose, if they could find a buyer. What's more likely to happen is an incredibly "messy" split in free agency two seasons from now, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Rose has been the subject of numerous headlines over his career, but few if any of them have ever pertained to trade rumors. Three knee surgeries and 1 1/2 missed seasons later, Rose is no longer Chicago's darling. According to Cowley, the Bulls would jump at the chance to dump Rose's max contract and move on.
"They would love to trade him," Cowley told Bleacher Report on Wednesday. "The problem is there's no buyer, (no team is) going take that contract with a guy with three knee surgeries since 2012. He's got two more years after this season."
Rose is due to make $41.4 million over the next two seasons before becoming a free agent in 2017. With Rose's hefty contract and unreliable knees making it unlikely Chicago ever finds a trade for him, the two sides appear stuck with each other until free agency. It's then, the summer of 2017, that Cowley predicts a messy split.
"The real dilemma and the real mess is going to be going into that final year (of his contract). It's going to be a clown car. ... It's going to be a mess," he said. "To me it's going to be an actual hostage situation as far as what the Bulls are put through. They're going to have to watch him disappear in free agency and see if there's a buyer. You can't move that contract."
Cowley went on to say he doesn't foresee Chicago or any other team giving Rose another long-term contract, unless the 26-year-old is able to finally regain MVP form and stay healthy through the next two seasons.
"I think the days of him being a max franchise guy or a franchise guy, those are over. And not just in Chicago," Cowley said. "I think league wide until he shows something he hasn't shown since 2012 and we've all yet to see that."
Rose went from the youngest MVP winner to a player whom the Bulls couldn't give away if they tried. Even if Rose were to bounce back and put up monstrous numbers over the next two seasons, two injury-free seasons alone likely wouldn't be enough to convince any teams to shell out a fully guaranteed max contract.
As for this season, Rose is expected to return in mid-April before the playoffs. He began participating in full-contact practices on Monday.
