Derrick Rose did not play in Team USA's 105-62 win against the Dominican Republic on Wednesday night, but the Chicago Bulls superstar reiterate that his knees were not the reason why he was scratched from the match.

Rose has only played in 10 games for the Chicago Bulls over the past two seasons due to an ACL injury in his left knee and a torn meniscus in right knee. He said in an interview that he decided to rest due to "body fatigue," not knee soreness.

"It's just body fatigue," Rose said via Chicago Sun-Times. "No, not the knees ... You don't got to worry about that."

Sources indicated before Wednesday's match that Rose, who has yet to practice since Saturday night's win against Brazil, has been experiencing pain in both knees and his body over the past three days.

Rose pointed out that he is just being extra cautious about his return from a second major knee injury.

"Just trying to protect myself, just knowing that this is a long, long schedule and this is the most basketball I'll be playing in two years," Rose, who scored seven points and made highlight plays in Chicago on Saturday, said via ESPN. "I want to be out there, but at the same time, my health is the No. 1 issue right now."

Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau also played down speculation about Rose's health, saying that the 25-year-old point guard was actually good enough to play against Dominican Republic, but the coaching staff decided to give the former Most Valuable Player a day off.

"He's feeling a lot better, he was probably feeling good enough to play tonight, but because he hasn't played and he's trying to shake off some rust, the best thing to do was to give him the day off," Thibodeau said.

Despite coming off another knee injury, Rose is said to be one of the shoe-ins for the final team that will compete in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. Anthony Davis, James Harden, Kenneth Faried, Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving are also expected to make the final squad.

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