The cloud of uncertainty that had engulfed Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls since 2012 was beginning to recede. Then came the news late Tuesday night that Rose — a former N.B.A. rookie of the year and most valuable player — would need his third major knee operation in less than three years.
The injury, the Bulls said, was a torn medial meniscus in his right knee, the same injury that cut short his 2013-14 season after only 10 games. During the 2011-12 playoffs, Rose sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and did not return for 549 days.
Reaction to the stunning news reverberated around the league. The deep sympathy from peers and league pundits reflected the unfortunate injury history of a player with immense talent.
Man feel bad for D.Rose! LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers tweeted Tuesday night. Keep your head up homie and stay strong G!
Before Chicago’s 98-86 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters: I don’t know what to say, other than it’s just so unfair. The guy has been through so much.
Rose was unavailable to reporters on Wednesday, and the Bulls would not say when the surgery would take place. The recovery timeline, the club said, would be established after the procedure.
One question that lingered was whether Rose, 26, would elect to have the damaged tissue repaired or would decide to have part or all of the tissue removed. The choice could drastically change his recovery period.
Dr. Robert Marx, an orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, said the recovery time could be as short as a few weeks if part of the meniscus tissue was removed. When the meniscus is repaired with sutures — the procedure Rose underwent last season — the recovery could take up to six months.
Marx, who has not examined Rose, emphasized that such timetables varied from case to case, depending on many factors.
In regard to long-term health, repairing the meniscus — and, in general, preserving as much of the tissue as possible — is preferable to removing some or all of it.
If you remove a lot of the meniscus, over time the chance of arthritis goes up, Marx said.
Dr. James Gladstone, co-chief of sports medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, said medical research suggested that a repaired meniscus had up to a 30 percent chance of being torn a second time. It happens particularly within the first two years of the initial procedure, said Gladstone, who did not have the exact details of Rose’s diagnosis.
Thibodeau told reporters that the team was well aware of the risk that the knee tissue could tear again after the first procedure. He said the club was hopeful that the recovery timeline would be shorter this time.
Rose was named the league’s rookie of the year after the 2008-9 season, earning praise for his dynamic style and extreme athleticism. In his first three seasons, he missed only a few games with minor injuries and positioned himself as the centerpiece of an imposing team. After his third season, he won the M.V.P. Award.
But misfortune began in the 2011-12 season. Rose sustained a string of seemingly disparate injuries during the regular season — his feet, back and groin, among others — before tearing the A.C.L. of his right knee after an awkward fall in the Bulls’ first playoff game. Rose missed the next season and drew some criticism when his recovery began to exceed the initial timetable.
Rose was ready to play from the get-go last season. But on Nov. 22, 2013, in the team’s 10th game, he tore the medial meniscus in his right knee while trying to cut to the hoop. Surgery to repair the tissue forced him to sit out the rest of the season. The injury at the time was seen as an impossibly cruel turn of events.
Tuesday’s news was particularly harsh because Rose had finally seemed to put questions about his health behind him. Before being shut down, he had played 19 straight games. On Feb. 12, in Chicago’s final game before the All-Star break, he played over 40 minutes, finishing with 30 points and 7 assists.
But he complained about knee soreness on Tuesday, and a magnetic resonance imaging test revealed the tear.
Rose’s string of injuries has seemed like the result of a mixture of unthinkably bad luck and the aggressive style in which he plays basketball, a game known to be taxing on the lower body.
More than anything else, he plays a sport that makes him and anyone else who plays in the way he does prone to injury, Gladstone said. You’re going full-tilt all the time. You’re cutting, pivoting, jumping. These are finely tuned athletes, but if you land wrong, the muscles and ligaments around the knee can’t maintain proper mechanics, and that’s all it takes.
The injury leaves the Bulls reeling as they prepare to make a push toward the playoffs. After Wednesday’s loss, they are tied with Cleveland for third in the Eastern Conference.
Now the Bulls head toward the postseason knowing they are unlikely to have their best player. And for Rose, whom the Bulls still owe about $40 million over the next two seasons, it brings yet another spell of doubt and uncertainty.
He’s gotten past a lot of hurdles, and this is another one, and he’ll get past this one, too, Thibodeau said. But it’s not an easy thing to deal with.
