Chris Bosh's plan to resume playing basketball in the NBA is now in jeopardy, after medical examinations performed in recent days convinced the Miami Heat that he is not healthy enough to return to the court.
And Bosh may have provided a clue why.
The Heat announced on Friday (Saturday AEST) that they still cannot clear Bosh for a resumption of basketball activities, based on the result of his pre-season physical - a series of tests conducted over the past few days. Their announcement came two days after Bosh revealed in the first chapter of a documentary series about his saga that he had multiple clots in February.
"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 team said on Friday.
Late on Friday, Bosh released a statement, saying "little setbacks happen.''
"But that doesn't change my intentions and what I want to accomplish,'' Bosh said.
That statement was distributed by LeBron James's digital platform called Uninterrupted, the same site that Bosh worked with for the documentary. In a video posted there earlier this week, Bosh said a small clot was found in his leg this past February when he was in Toronto for the All-Star break, and that a CT scan later found the existence of at least one other clot.
Typically, CT scans are administered when clots are expected of having travelled to a lung - a very serious condition called a pulmonary embolism, which Bosh also had in February 2015 in his first bout against the problem that now threatens his career.
"I wouldn't be a friend if I didn't express to him my concerns,'' former Heat guard Dwyane Wade, now a member of the Chicago Bulls, told The Associated Press. "To me, the biggest thing is Chris has five kids and a wife and a family that depends on him being there. To me, that's always most important. I told him, `Make sure you focus on that first.'"
The next step for Bosh is unclear. The Heat will hold a media day on Monday and their first practice of the post-Wade era in the Bahamas when training camp opens on Tuesday.
Bosh won't be on the floor for that practice, and likely not anytime soon, if ever. That means the Heat are for now down to just one player left from the team that played in the NBA finals just two years ago, that being veteran forward Udonis Haslem.
