Derrick Rose has torn a meniscus in his right knee and will require surgery, according to a statement by the team. He will be out indefinitely and right now, no timetable exists for his surgery or recovery.
The injury could not be more of a blow for Rose and the Bulls. Just 11 games into his comeback, Rose had been starting to show small flashes of his MVP form from the 2011 and 2012 seasons before the initial ACL tear in his left knee that has come to define the last 18 months.
Now, the Bulls and Rose face an uncertain future, much like they did on April 28th, 2012.
This is the second major knee injury Rose has suffered in less than two years. It also comes in a season that was already viewed by many as win-or-bust for the current core of players. That end may have been accelerated thanks to the events of Friday’s game in Portland.
While it’s easy to be all doom and gloom, there is the small matter of the timeline of recovery. With meniscus tears, it depends on the severity. If the meniscus is damaged in such a way that it can be repaired, it most often is. This, however, results in a recovery schedule of months rather than weeks.
The flip side involves trimming away whatever is left of the meniscus, yielding a much shorter recovery time but also compromising the knee for the rest of the athlete’s career. A knee without a meniscus experiences constant bone-on-bone rubbing, which understandably can cause issues further down the road.
They’ve announced his status as “year to year”.