Derrick Rose didn’t want to invade Ja Morant’s personal space, but his 10-year-old son, PJ, was making it tough.

Rose would check his phone every day during the NBA season and see text messages from PJ about potentially playing on Morant’s newly formed AAU team, Twelve Time.

“Are you by him? Are you on the plane? Can you give him the phone?” PJ would ask.

“I’m like, ‘No, bruh, I’m trying to give him space,’ ” Rose recalled from the dais at FedExForum during his end-of-season news conference last week.

When Rose signed with the Memphis Grizzlies last July, he was clear about his intentions on building a relationship with Morant. He wanted everything to come organically, and he wasn’t brought in to “babysit” the Grizzlies point guard.

One season in, a solid foundation of trust has been established and a lot of it centers around Rose’s son. Rose is here, in part, to be a mentor for Morant. But in an unusual twist, Morant will now take on a mentorship role with PJ this summer.

Eventually, Rose acted on PJ’s request during a Grizzlies West Coast road trip in March. He showed the messages to Morant’s uncle, Phil Morant, and then PJ Rose joined the team last month.

“A small moment to something that’s going to be big,” Derrick Rose said.

PJ Rose getting buckets for Ja Morant’s AAU team 🔥 @drose @JaMorant pic.twitter.com/nxCjw2q4kk

— Overtime (@overtime) April 7, 2024

PJ Rose’s love for basketball

Rose’s son wants to go to the NBA. Now, as a father, Rose said it’s his job to hold his son to that standard.

Before many Grizzlies home games, PJ Rose was on the floor taking shots. During the game, he often sat courtside with a basketball in his hand. Toward the end of the season, he spent a lot time with Morant’s father at games.

It was an extension of what PJ Rose is learning with Twelve Time. The AAU program, based out of South Carolina, debuted this spring with sixth- and seventh-grade boys teams and a seventh-grade girls squad.

PJ is one of two fifth-graders playing on the sixth-grade team coached by Morant’s friend, Davonte Pack.

It didn’t take long for Pack to realize PJ’s love for basketball is complemented with talent that suggests he’s from an NBA pedigree. Even while playing up in age, Pack estimated his new player hit nine 3-pointers in a recent game.

“He’s a good kid and has a high IQ for the game,” Pack said. “It’s like crazy to be in the fifth grade playing up on the sixth-grade team. He knows a lot about spots on the floor and what to do in certain moments. It’s crazy. He’s out there shooting it.”

Derrick Rose and Ja Morant’s growing relationship

The most intriguing part about the Rose-Morant dynamic is the basketball similarities. When Derrick Rose became the NBA’s youngest ever MVP in 2011, he was the dynamic player who kids gravitated toward because of his athleticism. Now, his son is one of many kids doing the same with Morant.

Morant said he and Rose have an “even deeper” relationship with PJ playing for Twelve Time, in addition to Rose giving Morant advice on handling a long-term injury for the first time. Morant suffered a labral tear in his right shoulder in January, which led to season-ending surgery.

“He’s pretty much a big brother,” Morant said of Rose.

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Morant’s new AAU program has been an outlet for him after his season began with a 25-game suspension and ended with him sidelined for all but nine games. He called it “a light that I needed in my life” and plans to travel with the teams on the weekends while rehabbing his injury.

Rose has been impressed with what he’s seen out of the Grizzlies star.

“Everything that Ja represents as a hooper and role model, my son is able to see that firsthand,” Rose said. “I know I made the right decision by the smile that my son gets on his face when he’s in the same van with Ja or he’s with his dad, or we’re having a conversation and he’s talking about Tee (Morant’s father) and his bucket hats.”