BOSH HITS BIG HURDLE
Health and cap issues in play
WASHINGTON Chris Bosh has been doing the media rounds in recent weeks, appearing on multiple platforms while going through regular workouts in preparation for what he hoped was a return to the court this season.
There has been lots of optimism as Bosh has gone through appearances on television shows and in making documentaries, as well as in the video clips of workouts he and his wife posted to social media, that he’d put the blood clotting episodes that had prematurely ended each of the past two seasons behind him.
But despite his ever-present sunny disposition, and his seemingly sound belief he would play for the Miami Heat again this season, there was always something standing in Bosh’s way, and out of his control. He’d need the Heat’s team doctors to clear him to do so.
Then came this news release from the team Friday afternoon, just three days before the team will reconvene Monday in South Florida for the start of training camp.
“The Miami Heat and Chris Bosh, in consultation with team doctors and other physicians, have been working together for many months with the mutual goal of having Chris return to the court as soon as possible,” began the statement. “Chris has now taken his pre-season physical.
“The Miami Heat regret that it remains unable to clear Chris to return to basketball activities, and there is no timetable for his return.”
The Heat cited a clause in the collective bargaining agreement that precludes a team from releasing medical information without a player’s consent, and thus declined to say whether Bosh had another issue with blood clotting.
For months, word within the basketball world has been that Bosh wouldn’t play another game for the Heat, that the risk to his long-term health was too great. Ever since Bosh had a blood clotting issue for a second straight season that was discovered at the all-star break last season, the Heat’s silence on the issue has spoken volumes.
There is also the business side to this. Bosh has three years and $75.8 million remaining on his deal and against the Heat’s salary cap, all of which he will get no matter what happens here. But if Bosh doesn’t play for the Heat for a year, the team would be able to clear his salary off their books in February — allowing Miami to have a massive amount of cap space to retool its roster next summer, when several superstar free agents (including Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant) will hit the open market.
The Heat, though, would undoubtedly rather have Bosh on the court. On Friday, however, the franchise did the one thing it was always expected to, but hadn’t actually done yet — it told Bosh he couldn’t come back.
The question now, though, is when — or if — one of the game’s best and most interesting players will ever be seen on an NBA court again.