By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Fourteen years after Derrick Rose was named Most Valuable Player of the 2010-11 NBA Regular Season, another Chicago native coming out of Simeon Career Academy, Kendrick Nunn, overcame struggles in the league based in North America to become the season MVP of the 2024-25 edition of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Reacting to the announcement of Euroleague Basketball on Monday, 36-year-old Rose posted an Instagram story with a special message for 29-year-old Nunn.
“Comin from where WE come from… this is a MIRACLE!!” he wrote, “I’m saying like, MEON 4 life… 25 always goes to the best player lol.”
Rose went to Memphis for a one-year NCAA stint and was selected with the first overall pick of the 2008 NBA draft. He went on to log 775 NBA appearances with the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Memphis Grizzlies. Injuries, including an ACL tear in his left knee in 2012, slowed him down following the MVP distinction.
Nunn instead played college basketball in Illinois and Oakland and was undrafted in 2018. Expanding his career beyond the NBA, he joined Panathinaikos Aktor early in the 2023-24 campaign, led the Greens to the 2024 EuroLeague championship, and extended success into a MVP nod for his second journey in Europe’s premier club continental competition.
Entering the 2025 EuroLeague Playoffs, the team guided by Ergin Ataman is set to tip off a best-of-five series for a Final Four ticket against Anadolu Efes in OAKA Altion on Tuesday.