Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose is the NBA's MVP, becoming the youngest player in league history to win the award, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
The person spoke Monday night on the condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been made. That could come today, with a formal presentation before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Rose is the second Bulls player to win the MVP but has a ways to go before he catches Michael Jordan, who won five -- but he sure is off to a good start. In his third year, the dynamic point guard led the Bulls to their best season since the Jordan-Scottie Pippen championship era.
"If I get it? It'll be nice, unbelievable, a goal that in the beginning in the year I said I wanted to achieve," Rose said recently when asked what the award would mean to him. "It would be huge, not only for me, but for the city."
He ended the two-year MVP reign of LeBron James, who spurned the Bulls and bolted from Cleveland to form a superstar triumvirate with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. The 22-year-old Rose also supplanted Wes Unseld as the youngest MVP. He was 23 was the rookie of the year and MVP with Baltimore Bullets for the 1968-69 season.
Kings to stay for nowThe Sacramento Kings on Monday granted their loyal fans a one-season reprieve from losing the city's only major league franchise to Anaheim, Calif., but made it clear there is still work remaining to keep the NBA team in the state capital beyond next season.
"They have to show us a plan and how the [new] arena will be financed," said George Maloof, a partner with his brothers Joe and Gavin in the Kings' ownership group. "We've been down this road before, but we have respect for the community."
The Maloofs faced a Monday afternoon deadline by the NBA to decide whether to apply to the league's Board of Governors for relocation to Anaheim.
