4. Derrick Rose was not that great when he did play with LeBron in Cleveland
There is no doubt that Rose has had two really solid bounce-back seasons since he had a failed experiment playing alongside LeBron in the 2017-18 regular season, but it is hard to forget that image of them not playing well together.
Rose only played 16 games with The King in Cleveland before being traded at the deadline that year, but he still said it felt awkward playing with LeBron, someone he had battled against for so long.
Check out what Rose told Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium in 2018 at that link with a paid subscription.
It seems like Rose felt a little weird playing as a role player for a team that he once played against as the leader of a contender. It might have been hard for him this season to take a step back and not take as many many shots as he is getting in Detroit.
He is having another great season averaging just over 18 points per game, but it is unlikely he would get the touches to keep that same average if he was traded to the Lakers. History suggests it could have caused some frustration if Rose did not feel he was getting the touches he deserved.
In the 16 games that they did play together, Rose was only able to average 9.8 points per game and he put up a career-low 8.3 field goal attempts per game. The same thing might have happened again, and maybe without the same volume Rose would not have as big of an impact.