Blood-clot concerns keep Bosh in limbo

Miami teammates miss perennial All-Star who hasn't played in a year

It was 10:29 pm on Feb 9, 2016.

Miami was trailing San Antonio by 22 points late in the fourth quarter. Most fans had already left the building, and Chris Bosh was walking to the Heat bench after committing a foul, knowing his night was over.

He has not played since - and might never play again.

An anniversary that neither the Heat nor Bosh wanted came and went on Thursday.

Since Bosh hasn't played for one year, the team can now begin the process of having his contract removed from its salary cap.

Bosh still gets paid $23.7 million this season and another $52.1 million over the next two years, but the perennial All-Star forward and two-time NBA champion would not take up any of the Heat's cap space.

The conventional wisdom is that Miami will not make such a move until it needs the space, which might be weeks or months from now.

If anyone knows, they're not saying. And if Bosh knows whether he can overcome the blood-clot problem that has overshadowed his past three seasons and play again, he's not telling - though he said last month that he is getting "a taste of retirement."

"I miss him," Heat forward and captain Udonis Haslem said on Thursday.

"I miss being around him in the locker room. Chris really didn't have a choice in this; the decision was made for him. I miss having him around. I miss his basketball knowledge. I miss his humor. I miss all of it."

Bosh still has a spot in the locker room and his name on the roster. That's the extent of his involvement with this Heat team, which has won its last 12 games after an 11-30 start to the season to get back into the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Bosh hasn't been attending games, doesn't speak about the Heat on his social media platforms and no new details about his medical condition have emerged for months.

"We all miss him," Heat guard Goran Dragic said.

Bosh failed a preseason physical in September, and the Heat said soon afterward that he was not in their future plans.

He first dealt with a blood clot at the All-Star break in February 2015, ending his season. Two nights after that Spurs game a year ago, he went into a Toronto hospital with calf pain only to learn it was another clot problem.

"When you understand the severity of what a blood clot really is and the damage it can do, to have something like that not occur just once but twice, I don't know the percentages of that but it can't be very high," said Haslem, who once dealt with a blood clot himself. "It's scary."

The scenario that likely awaits Bosh goes basically like this: The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association will agree on a physician, and Bosh will have to cooperate in the processing of the application and appear at the examination. After that, a determination will be made if his condition merits being designated as career-ending.

Even if the Heat application is approved, that wouldn't mean Bosh would be forbidden from playing again. If Miami clears him, Bosh could resume his career.

He said months ago that he wants to return, though it is unknown if that's still the case.

"It's tough for me to see him and his family go through this," Dragic said.

"I know how much he wants to come back, so hopefully he will be able to do that. He's a brother. We battle for the same team. You don't want to see something bad happen to one of your friends."