Reggie Miller makes asinine statement about Derrick Rose and LeBron James

If you thought the craziest Derrick Rose take in recent days was Draymond Green claiming he means more to Chicago than Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller has an even better one for you.

Miller joined The Dan Patrick Show Tuesday morning for his weekly appearance. And with Derrick Rose recently having his number retired by the Chicago Bulls, Patrick asked Miller if he is a future Hall of Famer.

“I would be surprised if he doesn’t. He would be the only MVP not to be in the Hall of Fame,” Miller said. “Is he a first ballot? I doubt he’ll be first ballot, but he’ll get in at some point. For a six-to-eight-year stretch, him and LeBron were battling for who was the best player in the game.”

Forget about will he or won’t he make the Hall of Fame, if Derrick Rose means more to Chicago than Michael Jordan, and that if he spent eight seasons battling LeBron James for the title of best player in the NBA, we should be debating whether he belongs on the league’s Mount Rushmore, right? The problem is, there isn’t an ounce of truth to what Reggie Miller said.

At no point before Rose’s MVP season was he battling LeBron for who was the best player in the game. And at no point after his torn ACL in 2012 was Rose battling LeBron for who was the best player in the game.

That means there were maybe two years where Rose could have been battling LeBron for who was the best player in the game, not six, seven or eight. After Rose’s injury at 23 years old, he played more than 51 games just twice, and never made another All-Star game. His biggest feats were scoring 50 points in a game with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2018 that was celebrated like he won a championship, and helping the Knicks break their playoff drought as a sixth man in 2021.

Credit Rose for carving out a nice career after his injury. Credit him for what he means to Chicago as someone who was born, raised and won an MVP there. He deserves to have his jersey retired, he might even deserve the Hall of Fame, and we will always wonder what could have been if he never got injured. But battling LeBron for the title of best player in the NBA for eight years? Come on, Reggie.