Chris Bosh Bosh played basketball today for the first time in eight years, making a brief appearance at Goran Dragic’s retirement game to honor his former teammate. The Hall of Famer starred for Toronto and Miami for 13 NBA seasons before a blood clot problem ended his career prematurely. After playing a few minutes in Saturday’s game, Bosh spoke to Mindaugas Bertys from BasketNews about his health condition which forced him to retire.
“It was really hard,” Bosh said. “To be honest, it was the end of my career. Any time you deal with loss or death or something like that, you go through a grieving process. I had to do that for a few years. I got through it. I think it made me stronger. It allowed me to focus more on being a father.”
Bosh and Dragic spent a season and a half as teammates with the Heat after Dragic was acquired at the 2015 trade deadline. Bosh won two championships in Miami and played in four NBA Finals after signing there with LeBron James in the summer of 2011.
Bosh was an 11-time All-Star, averaging 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds in 893 career games. elected in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
Although Bosh would have preferred to play longer, he told Bertys he has positive memories of his NBA career.
“Everything went well,” he said. “I won a couple of championships. I met some great people, had some great teammates, great stories, great locker rooms. I’m a lucky guy.”
Bosh revealed he was given the opportunity to play in Europe after the NBA refused to give him a medical clearance, according to Cesare Milanti of EurohoopsHowever, he decided it was best to end his career and not take any risks with his health.
“I wasn’t in a situation where I wanted to leave and move my family. I had kids at the time,” Bosh said. “I took that as a sign and kept moving forward. But I got a couple of offers. It wasn’t Greece. Spain, France. The Euroleague.”
Dragic’s team prevailed as he thrilled the Slovenian crowd with 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, Milanti added in a separate storyThe star-studded contest included Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Luis Scola, Dirk Nowitzki, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Steve Nash.
There was also a one-on-one match between Dragic and his brother Zoran, with their parents serving as referee and scorer.
