Former Knicks Guard Shares New Passion

Former New York Knicks point guard Derrick Rose is excited about life after basketball.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft had a tumultuous career with the highest of highs, winning league MVP honors at 22 years old before tearing his ACL, an injury that affected his entire career.

Now, Rose has a new game he's picking up that he considers to be just as valuable as basketball.

“I had anxiety whenever I (played basketball),” Rose said via The Athletic's Joel Lorenzi. “I never have anxiety whenever I play chess. Losing is actually worse in chess than basketball. After you lose in chess, it makes you want to fight. In basketball, I never got that mad.

“Losing is the best thing in chess. You start to see how important just one move is. And that one move is a choice in life.”

Rose is one of many NBA players who have taken up chess as a passion outside of basketball. There's a quiet community forming, and Rose hopes to get kids to pick up the game early on in their childhood.

“That’s the goal, getting kids to critically think,” Rose said via Lorenzi. “I said this prior — where I’m from, getting kids to think before they pull the trigger, before they do harm.

“I feel like the game can prevent it if you’re playing it at an earlier age. I’m not saying it’s the solution, but (you) gotta start somewhere. I feel like this can be a start.”

Rose will always have basketball as a way to make an impact, but now it looks as though he is taking that passion from the court to the chess board and making just as much of a difference.