When TNT announced last week that Chris Bosh would be joining the panel of athlete commentators for its new “Players Only” broadcasts, many of us wondered whether the move to television meant we’d officially seen the last of Bosh — an 11-time All-Star who hasn’t suited up for game action in more than a year due to complications related to blood clotting — on an NBA court. Bosh addressed concerns surrounding his health during Monday night’s broadcast, but as he has at multiple junctures during his frustrating year of medical uncertainty, he kept hopes of a potential comeback alive.
“I can’t imagine what you’re going through,” studio ringleader Chris Webber said to Bosh as they sat together on the “Inside the NBA” set. “How is your health right now? What is your state of mind? What are you going through?”
“Oh, my health is great,” Bosh replied. “I think one of the interesting things that I didn’t anticipate was my mental health. And that’s something that, as athletes, we have to take into regard, because we’re used to a set schedule and we’re used to a certain type of world. That’s something that I’ve really had to work on for my well-being, and it’s been great.
“My health is great,” he repeated. “Feeling good. Still working out, and just really still staying ready. [My children] are asking me when I’m coming back, so I’m getting pressure from them, too.”
While he’s “staying ready” for an NBA return despite signing on for five weeks of “Players Only” broadcasts on TNT, Bosh didn’t offer any details about his comeback plans or specifics on his ongoing battle with the blood-clotting problems that forced him out of action after the All-Star break of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, and scuttled multiple hoped-for returns to the Miami Heat.
Throughout his forced separation from the court, the two-time NBA champion maintained his intention to come back, continuing to search for treatment options and second opinions that would allow him to be cleared to play professional basketball once again. The Heat, however, resisted those efforts, reportedly and understandably unwilling to take the risk that a recurrence of clotting issues could have catastrophic consequences for Bosh’s health.
Despite Bosh’s confidence that he’d be ready to resume full activity by Miami’s September training camp, though, multiple reports indicated that the Heat weren’t yet comfortable clearing Bosh to play, continuing the impasse between the two sides and leaving a layer of haze and ambiguity over Bosh’s status.
In September, Bosh failed his Heat physical, casting his NBA future in doubt. But while multiple sources, including Heat team president Pat Riley, said before the start of the season that Bosh’s career with the Heat was “probably over,” Bosh continued to insist that he’d be “all right” and that the Heat medical staff’s decision not to clear him for NBA activity didn’t constitute the end of the line for his 13-year NBA career.
And yet, Bosh remains under contract with the Heat, still earning a fully guaranteed (and team-high) $23.7 million for this season and in line to receive $52.1 million over the next two campaigns — until or unless Miami expunges him from its books. The Heat can apply to excise the final two years of Bosh’s pact from their balance sheet, owing to a provision in the 2017 collective bargaining agreement that governs how long-term injuries are managed in the computation of team salary.
