Derrick Rose Absent From Knicks’ Game

10:36pm: Per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, Rose left without permission to tend to a family matter, but Chris Mannix of The Vertical writes that it’s still unclear where he actually is.

9:36pm: Teammate Joakim Noah has been in touch with Derrick Rose since Monday’s game finished and says “he’s okay,” tweets Ian Begley of ESPN. Noah did not elaborate further as to why the guard was absent. Rose was at the team’s shootaround this morning, per Courtney Lee via Begley. Frank Isola of the New York Daily News says there are “strong indications” that Rose returned to his hometown of Chicago.

8:59pm: Speaking after the game to reporters, Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek said that he doesn’t have enough information to pass along an update, adding that he’ll need to “wait until we hear from Derrick himself” (Twitter link via Mike Vorkunov). Hornacek did say that he expects Rose will be back with the team, per Ian Begley of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

8:29pm: The Knicks are in action tonight against the Pelicans, but starting point guard Derrick Rose is “not with the team,” as Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News writes. Rose had been penciled in as a starter 90 minutes before the game got underway, but never showed up.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter), there are team officials, teammates, and close associates of Rose who aren’t certain why the point guard is not at Madison Square Garden tonight. At the time of tip-off earlier in the evening, the Knicks still hadn’t been in contact with Rose, and it’s unclear if they’ve been able to reach him since then, tweets Wojnarowski.

The Knicks sat Rose during the fourth quarter in Milwaukee on Friday, and he wasn’t thrilled with that move, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The former MVP also played just 26 minutes on Saturday, but it’s not clear whether tonight’s absence is impacted by anything on-court related.

This sort of absence is unusual, so hopefully Rose is okay. We’ll pass along any updates as they come in.

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