Derrick Rose is grateful to be back in the Mecca of basketball.

On Sunday, the New York Knicks acquired Derrick Rose from the Detroit Pistons for Dennis Smith Jr. and a second-round pick.Ā 

The trade reunites the former MVP with head coach Tom Thibodeau ā€” for whom he played with the Chicago Bulls (2010-15) and Minnesota Timberwolves (2017-18). It also brings Rose back to Madison Square Garden, where he played for one season, in 2016-17.

On Monday, the veteran guard shared a message on Instagram expressing his excitement and motivation about getting a ā€œsecond chanceā€ in New York.

You can read Rose's full post here:

Derrick Rose experienced an up-and-down campaign during his lone year in New York. Playing under ex-head coach Jeff Hornacek, Rose put up 18.0 points per game on 47.1 percent shooting, starting in all 64 of his appearances for a 31-51 squad. Memorably, he went AWOL for a game in early January (later found to be for family reasons).

In 2020-21, the 32-year old is averaging 14.2 points and 4.2 assists in 15 appearances as Detroit's sixth man. He's shooting 42.9 percent from the field and making one-third of his 3-pointers (33.3%) in 22.8 minutes per game.

Last season, the three-time All-Star put up 18.1 points per game on a career-best 49.0 percent shooting from the field.

Under Thibodeau, the Knicks are out to an 11-14 start and currently occupy the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

The minutes distribution at point guard has been a point of contention on #KnicksTwitter, as impressive rookie Immanuel Quickley has outperformed starter Elfrid Payton. How Derrick Rose's infusion affects Thibodeau's rotation will surely become a storyline for the rest of this season.