Chicago Bulls honor Derrick Rose by retiring his No. 1 jersey following victory

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls honored Derrick Rose by retiring his No. 1 jersey on Saturday night after their 106-103 win over the Boston Celtics.

During the ceremony, Rose became emotional, wiping away tears as his teammates, Taj Gibson and Luol Deng, initiated the opening remarks. Rose then gave a heartfelt speech, paying tribute to his mother, Brenda, his brothers, a group of former teammates present, and the sold-out audience in Chicago, his hometown, as nearly everyone in the arena remained seated for over an hour following the game.

Rose is the fifth player in Bulls history to have his number retired, joining Jerry Sloan (No. 4), Bob Love (No. 10), Michael Jordan (No. 23), and Scottie Pippen (No. 33). The Bulls also have banners honoring former coach Phil Jackson and former general manager Jerry Krause.

“This journey was never about me,” Rose stated before the game. “It was about creating the synergy that somehow people from the city can draw from. And somehow I was that beacon or that vessel for that — from hooping.”

On Saturday, temperatures outside dropped to single digits in Chicago, yet fans queued outside the United Center hours before the game, eager for an early look at the star of the evening. A black T-shirt featuring Rose’s name and number was placed on every seat in the arena, and Bulls players donned the same shirt during their pregame warmups.

Rose took the court about an hour before the game, as fans eagerly lined up to capture photos and videos while he practiced with his son, surrounded by family members and former teammates along the baseline and at center court.

“All this, the moment, I’m still trying to take it in,” Rose remarked. “Just feeling grateful. Knowing the weather conditions out there, knowing that it is a Chicago thing, to even show up here, to fight through that and still go to an event, is huge.”

The Bulls featured a live performance from a Chicago orchestra playing the team’s intro song, SIRIUS by the Allan Parsons Project, to kick off the postgame celebrations, as fans chanted “M-V-P, M-V-P” throughout the evening. Several current Bulls players, including Coby White, Josh Giddey, Zach Collins, and rookie Noa Essengue, returned to the bench after the game to witness the ceremony.

Bulls guard Kevin Huerter made the game-winning shot and mentioned after the game that he contemplated falling into his teammates, a celebration reminiscent of Rose’s game-winning shot in the 2015 playoffs against the Cavaliers.

Rose, a native of Chicago, spent eight seasons with the Bulls after being selected first overall in 2008. He was named the 2008-09 Rookie of the Year and earned three All-Star selections. In 2011, he became the youngest MVP in NBA history.

A year ago, Rose expressed that he wanted his jersey retirement to celebrate everyone. On Saturday, he reiterated this sentiment, acknowledging the fans for the connection they built in the city.

“It was about everybody that found ways to come to my games,” he stated. “That somehow we had some type of vibration that connected … it is no coincidence that all this is going on and the people that watched me play showed up today.”

The Bulls recognized Rose last January following his retirement at the beginning of the 2024-25 season, but the organization chose to wait until this year to officially retire his jersey.

“We wanted to honor him, but we wanted to take the time to actually really plan something really, really special,” Bulls president Michael Reinsdorf told ESPN last week. “I guess we could have done it last year, but I feel like this is the right way to do it. Give him time to prepare and give us time to ramp up to the big day.”

After the game, the Bulls displayed a video on the scoreboard featuring some of Rose’s former teammates, NBA superstars like LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, along with Rose’s family and friends, and Chicagoans discussing the impact Rose has had on their lives and the city.

Approximately 20 of his former teammates attended Saturday’s events. Rose watched the game from a suite alongside former teammates such as Joakim Noah, Gibson, Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, and coach Tom Thibodeau. Noah mentioned that the group gathered to reconnect the night before the ceremony, an evening that extended into the early hours of Saturday morning.

“Many, many nights, many, many foxholes, many, many scraps, he was right there with me,” Gibson told fans on Saturday night. “And he was that one comforting teammate that you always looked to the corner or you looked to the side and he always said, ‘I got you.’

Rose had a chance to see the banner earlier this week when he viewed the completed product at the United Center before it was raised to the rafters. He described seeing the banner as “unreal,” but he was still processing his emotions.

However, those within the Bulls organization made it clear what seeing Rose’s banner represented to them.

“Even though we didn’t win a championship, our fans did truly love that era of Chicago Bulls basketball,” Reinsdorf stated. “Derrick, he’s Chicago born. He’s one of us. He was playing for the city, the city that he grew up in and that he loved and cared so much about.

“This thing is forever man,” Deng told fans after the game. “When people talk about all the minutes, all the injuries, everything that we went through — that’s our trophy. That’s our trophy man.”