Every NBA career follows a different trajectory. Data crunchers around the globe have designed models to predict career outcomes. Invariably, players will bust them up anyway.

There are simply too many factors that can’t be predicted. Unfortunately, one major one is injuries. They’ll take a promising career and cut it short.

They almost did so to Derrick Rose. For a while, he looked like the future face of the league. In fact, he was the youngest player to ever win the Most Valuable Player award.

A brutal early-career injury insured that he wouldn’t win it again. Rose could have walked away from the sport, and people would have understood. Instead, he worked relentlessly to reinvent his game.

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Now, he’s one of the best reserve guards in the NBA, and if a team wanted to start him, it still wouldn’t be unreasonable.

In fact, if the Los Angeles Lakers acquired him, they may do so. Here’s a deal that finds them landing Rose this summer.