In a move designed to upgrade a conspicuously ineffectual backcourt, the Knicks completed a blockbuster deal with the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday and acquired point guard Derrick Rose, who won the Most Valuable Player Award in 2011 before struggling with a string of serious knee injuries.
In exchange for Rose — as well as guard Justin Holiday and a 2017 second-round draft pick — the Knicks sent center Robin Lopez, point guard Jose Calderon and point guard Jerian Grant to the Bulls.
“This is an exciting day for New York and our fans,” Knicks Coach Jeff Hornacek said in a statement sent out by the team. “Derrick is one of the top point guards in the N.B.A. who is playoff-battle-tested. He adds a whole new dynamic to our roster and immediately elevates our backcourt.”
The acquisition of Rose, 27, splashy as it was, came chock-full of question marks for the Knicks.
At the least, the move added another alluring boldface name to a team that already featured Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis. Rose, who was named rookie of the year in 2009 and made the All-Star team the next three seasons, has long been one of the most recognizable faces in the league.
Yet many believe Rose’s best seasons are in the past, and he has been known better over the last few years for his lengthy stints on the Bulls’ disabled list. He played in only 100 games from the 2011-12 season to the 2014-15 season and sat out the entire 2012-13 campaign. Last season, he appeared in 66 games for the Bulls and averaged 16.4 points and 4.7 assists in 31.8 minutes per game.
Rose was also accused of sexual battery in a lawsuit filed last year by a former girlfriend who charged that he and two other men had drugged her and sexually assaulted her in 2013. Rose has denied the allegations, and a trial is scheduled to begin in October.
Whatever risks or rewards Rose may bring, his tenure with the Knicks could be short. He has one year left on his contract, with a base salary of about $21.3 million for the coming season.
Holiday, a 27-year-old, 6-foot-6 guard, averaged 4.5 points in 53 games for the Atlanta Hawks and the Bulls last season.
Lopez joined the team as a free agent last summer and, after a slow start, found his stride in the second half of the season. He started all 82 games and averaged 10.3 points and 7.3 rebounds. His bruising presence at the center position allowed Porzingis, a rookie last season, to adjust to the pace and physicality of the N.B.A.As the Knicks tried to solidify their backcourt, they created another hole in their roster with the departure of Lopez. The move could compel them to pursue a free-agent big man in the coming weeks.
Calderon, 34, started 72 games for the Knicks and averaged 7.6 points and 4.2 assists. Grant, 23, was a first-round pick in the 2015 draft. He inherited the starting point guard job from Calderon in the final days of the Knicks’ 2015-16 season, which they finished 32-50.
The Knicks also announced on Wednesday that they had waived guard Tony Wroten.
Into that newly vacated space arrives Rose, who was born in Chicago and played one season at Memphis before becoming the No. 1 pick in the 2008 N.B.A. draft.
Rose exploded into the N.B.A., and became the youngest player to win the league’s M.V.P. Award at 22. He was a physical dynamo in those early years. He sprang and slashed in his signature drives to the hoop, and his overwhelming athleticism helped to mask his deficiencies shooting from outside. Rose played in 240 games in his first three seasons in the league, and he averaged 20.9 points and 6.7 assists in that time.
A spate of injuries in recent years has kept him from reaching those same heights. It began in the 2011-12 season. The Bulls finished that season tied for the best record in the league. But in the first game of the postseason, Rose tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, and he missed all of the following season as a result of the injury.
In November 2013, just 10 games into the season, Rose tore the meniscus of his right knee and missed the rest of the season. He sustained the same injury in February 2015, the following season, and missed 20 more games.
Last September, he sustained a fracture in his left eye socket after taking an elbow to the face in practice and had to undergo yet another operation.
The sum of those injuries left him a shadow of his former self once he returned to the court. He has a chance to re-emerge in the spotlight next season with the Knicks.
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