The New York Knicks begin their preseason schedule Tuesday night on the same day that Derrick Rose's civil trial for sexual assault begins. Rose isn't in Los Angeles for the start of the trial though. While they go through jury selection for the $21.5 million civil sexual assault case, Rose has been with his teammates in Houston to prepare for Tuesday night's game against the Houston Rockets.
After the game, Rose will head to Los Angeles on Wednesday for the trial. He's unsure if it will cause him to miss any practices for the Knicks next week when the trial is still going on, but he said he's confident he'll "be alright" when it's all said and done. From Calvin Watkins of ESPN:
Knicks guard Derrick Rose will play against the Rockets tonight but he'll also have jury selection start in Los Angeles today on his $21.5 million civil sex assault case. "I really don't have a feeling about jury selection all I can do is pray about it," Rose said Tuesday morning. "Like I said before, I felt like I didn't do anything wrong and if I go up there and tell my side of the story I think I'll be alright."
The Knicks have home games on Saturday this weekend and then on Monday and Saturday of next week, as well. It's assumed that Rose won't miss any of those games, but the time between the game on Monday and the second Saturday game could require his presence in the court room. If that's the case, Rose would likely miss at least one practice, if not multiple practices as the trial continues during his first preseason with the Knicks.
Rose was traded this offseason by the Chicago Bulls. Knicks president Phil Jackson was aware of the trial and accusations at the time, but has declined to discuss how much they looked into the situation before he was acquired. He also said the team is not concerned with it while recognizing it's a serious subject matter.