Derrick Rose has played 10 games with the Knicks this season. He lost his eighth straight game Sunday night against the Sixers.
The 32-year-old has not played in March, due to the new sports concept: “safety and health protocols.”
Finally, back with the Knicks on Thursday, Rose fired shots two hours before the relegation, and then wore teacher glasses while sitting on the bench in a white dress shirt for Thursday’s win over Orlando.
According to NBA COVID-19 protocols, Rose has enough negative evidence to allow her to be with the team.
According to NBA sources, Rose is in the final stages before being released; he has to go through a series of workouts to make sure he can play.
Last week, Thibodeau said Rose “felt so much better.”
The Knicks, under HIPAA laws, are not allowed to confirm that Rose has been out of a positive test. But Thibodeau’s observation the other day suggested Rose might have had symptoms.
And this is where this pandemic season continues to be frightening and unpredictable. Scientists are not yet aware of the long-term effect of COVID-19 on professional athletes.
Dr. Marc Sala, a lung specialist at Northwestern University and his COVID-19 expert, told The Post that a professional athlete can still experience symptoms even after testing negative for months, let alone weeks.
Rose last played on Feb. 28 in Detroit. He was excluded from the March 2 game in San Antonio due to an inconclusive test.
“I’ve had people who had previously been marathon runners and patients with extremely high physical performance, like an athlete who still – 12 months later – has symptoms,” Dr. Sala. “Breath, inability to run again.”
It’s a virus we’ve never seen.
“Even after the acute viral infection is over, they can have very prolonged symptoms even after the virus has disappeared,” Sala said. “We don’t know why and it’s a huge area of study right now.”
In the case of NBA players like Rose, Sala said precautionary tests are done to check for any heart inflammation.
According to Sala, the virus “affects the heart, lungs, brain and kidneys.” Rose is likely to have undergone electrocardiograms and echocardiograms.
“If the heart is inflamed, activity in the heart is dangerous,” Sala said. “You’re conservative when it comes to making an effort.”
Some Knicks fans get impatient, wondering why a return of the Rose takes so long, as if she’s trying a right ankle sprain.
An erroneous talk on social media had Rose in Chicago at a funeral for a friend. Thus, the rumor was that he stayed away from the team due to the protocols. Others have pointed out that it was AWOL during his first stint at the Knicks in 2016-17.
All, of course, blatantly false. Rose has been in New York since returning to the San Antonio team when the team thought she would play the next game. All Rose needed was to do more negative tests.
But this is a season like no other and Rose is still out. Somehow, the Knicks have survived their shortage of punctual guards, who have also wiped out Elfrid Payton (hamstring), Immanuel Quickley (ankle) and Austin Rivers (paternity leave).
“It’s extremely tough,” said Julius Randle, who has played in all 42 games. “But, as we said all year, the next man. This is what we are thinking. So the next man who will increase: the boys have taken a good step in this role. Everything we can do to achieve victory regardless of the challenges we face. “
The Knicks are 3-4, as Rose stopped playing due to COVID-19 problems. In their 10 games with the club, the Knicks go 7-3.
The Knicks are at their best with Payton as a starting point and Rose and Quickley as a backup tandem.
Payton and Quickley appear about to return. So does Rose.
Mitchell Robinson, out of the last 15 games with a broken hand, had a shot to return Sunday night.
“It’s going to be a big difference,” Randle said. “We’re going to shoot once the guys get back into the game and get healthy and have a full team. It’s going to be great.”
But, as we all know, the still mysterious virus means that the only sure thing is that there is nothing safe. And we can only wish Rose the best of luck.
“We have no idea what the long-term effects of COVID-19 are on anyone, let alone on athletes who previously had an incredible reserve and function,” Sala said.