D Rose has been AWOL the entire day and now WOJO has provided some insight on what led to Rose deciding he didn’t want to play tonight.
The good news is according to Joakim Noah, Rose isn’t in any harm or physical distress, but that makes everything even more puzzling.
Here are the details.
Team officials were unable to reach Rose by phone – nor get answers from his closest confidants – in the immediate time prior to the opening tip, league sources told The Vertical.
Beyond Knicks officials, some close associates of Rose were unable to reach him on Monday, sources told The Vertical.
Rose typically arrives at 5:30 p.m. for a 7:30 p.m. ET start, teammates say, and Rose hadn’t informed anyone with the Knicks that he might be late – or miss the game altogether, sources said.
Rose also didn’t attend a morning shootaround, so this appears to be preplanned and comes from the fact he has beef with his head coach.
Rose, who’ll be a free agent this summer, has been increasingly frustrated with how this Knicks season has unfolded, culminating with him privately fuming over his diminished late-game role in Friday night’s victory in Milwaukee, sources said. Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek played undrafted rookie Ron Baker over Rose in the fourth quarter.
Rose’s relationship with Hornacek has been frayed in recent weeks, league sources told The Vertical.
A lot of players don’t like their coach, not many will go AWOL from the team. There are reports that Rose has returned home to Chicago, but those reports haven’t been confirmed.
ESPN is reporting that Rose had a family emergency but doesn’t clarify when Rose told the team.
Phil Jackson is going to have to do something because the team is falling apart.
Flip the page to hear what Hornacek had to say…