Derrick Rose has never sounded especially comfortable with the language of permanence. Even as his legacy in Chicago has moved from complicated to canonized, Rose continues to treat the biggest honors with the same instinct: gratitude, a little humor, and a hard pivot away from making it about him.
That tone surfaced again when Rose was asked about the idea of the Bulls one day commissioning a statue outside the United Center. Rose’s answer was quick and telling. Referencing the online firestorm that followed the unveiling of Dwyane Wade’s statue in Miami, Rose essentially declined the concept altogether.
Derrick Rose says he doesn’t want the Bulls to give him a statue after seeing Dwyane Wade’s statue 😅
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 30, 2026
The Wade mention wasn’t random. Miami unveiled its first-ever player statue of Wade outside the Kaseya Center in October 2024, commemorating his iconic “This is my house!” moment. The tribute immediately went viral for a different reason: many fans debated whether the sculpture resembled Wade at all, prompting jokes, memes, and a public defense from Wade himself, who framed it as an artistic interpretation rather than a strict portrait.
