A few days ago I recently talked about the three top targets for the Cavs during the NBA’s buyout season should be Brook Lopez, Tony Allen, and Tyson Chandler in the event they are bought out. Not too long after, former NBA star Chris Bosh made an appearance on ESPN’s First Take and made quite the stir:
For the uninformed, Bosh was sidelined a few seasons ago after the 2015 NBA All-Star game after being admitted to the hospital for lung tests.
During those tests, doctors found that Bosh had a blood clot in one of his lungs and was ruled out for the remainder of the season.
After that, Bosh once again had to step away from the court during the 2015-16 season after doctors found another blood clot in his leg.
After that, the Miami Heat failed Bosh on a physical and ruled him out for the 2016-17 season from complications from the recurring blood clot issue.
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After that, a joint medical review by the NBA and the players’ union ruled that Bosh’s illness that caused him to miss the entirety of the 2016-17 season was a career-ending one, according to the Miami Sun-Sentinel. Despite all of this, Bosh still has not given up on making a comeback to the NBA hardwood, and as seen above would be interested in joining the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, or the Toronto Raptors, his old team.
Although he did not mention the Cavs on the before mentioned list, NBA fans have been buzzing at the prospect of Bosh joining forces yet again with LeBron James to maybe rekindle some of the magic from a few season’s ago, something they already tried once with signing Dwyane Wade before shipping him off to the Miami Heat for a second-round draft pick at the trade deadline.
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With Bosh, the Cavs might be better off as he would fit a huge problem for the team at the center position and would bring a beyond valuable veteran presence to a Cavs locker room that may need it the first time the new team faces adversity. The combination of him and Kevin Love would be incredible as both of them are reliable three-point options that would create insane spacing for LeBron James to operate. He also would be a defensive improvement over both Love and Tristan Thompson at the five spot, as Bosh was considered a defensive anchor during the Heatles days as he primarily played at the center spot.
But as awesome as it would be to see Bosh be able to live out his dreams competing for an NBA Championship alongside Cleveland’s King yet again, Cavs fans should not want to have Bosh join the team’s roster. This is because that while Bosh claims that he is healthy, the medical risk that runs with having him play professional basketball is too great.
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Since Bosh has suffered multiple blood clots in just a few year’s time, he has to take blood thinners for the remainder of his career to prevent them from killing him. Now that he is on blood thinners for the rest of his life, Bosh now faces an increased risk of internal bleeding, which can prove highly fatal. While the NBA is not the NFL, players’ bodies take a beating throughout the season, and with Bosh taking thinners it would be such a huge risk if he were to play through a normal amount of NBA contact.
Another problem with Bosh joining the Cavs this season, other than the obvious life-threatening ones, no NBA team would willingly kick the tires on a player who has not played professional basketball in over a year and a half. In fairness to Bosh though, he did look great in the last season he was on the floor:
It also seems to go against the youth movement the Cavaliers are embarking on by acquiring Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., and future superstar Rodney Hood. They also went out and got George Hill, who is a veteran that can complement the team and help them win now, and not eat into players like Clarkson’s minutes and allow him to continue to grow into an NBA star.
Bosh could be a lot more like what the Cavs front office did this summer by adding a player that may not mesh as well like Isaiah Thomas and derail a Cavaliers season that finally seems to have turned around following a disappointing first half. So instead of Bosh, the Cavs should go after veterans that will just fall into line behind James and Love like Chandler, Allen, or Lopez.
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In the end, the Cavs should clearly keep themselves out of the race to acquire Chris Bosh for the remainder of the NBA season, despite Bosh’s and Cavs fans’ wishes. For fans, it honestly is beyond selfish and reckless to want Bosh to risk the chance of dying on the floor and leaving behind his wife and children just to try and move the needle just a little bit towards keeping up with the Warriors or the Rockets out West or the Boston Celtics in the East.
While it is hard to see such a talented player have his career cut so short, it is ultimately for the best if Bosh does not return to the court ever again. Blood clots are no joke and the health risk that the medications used to combat them creates a laundry list of further risks for professional athletes on top of that.
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If he never returns to the floor, Bosh has had quite an outstanding career during his time with the Raptors and the Heat and easily will be in the Hall of Fame someday and the silver lining to the sad end to his career will never be able to take away from that.