For the first time since 2016, Chris Bosh made a return to the basketball court, this time in Ljubljana, Slovenia, for Goran Dragic’s farewell game. The Hall of Fame forward, who shared the court with Dragic during their time with the Miami Heat, took the opportunity to reflect on his career and life after basketball during an interview with Mindaugas Bertys of BasketNews.
Bosh’s career came to an abrupt and heartbreaking end in 2016 when he was forced to retire at the age of 31 due to a serious blood clot condition. Reflecting on that difficult period, Bosh described it as the death of his career, saying, “It was very tough. It was the death of my career, to be honest. Any time dealing with loss and death and stuff like that, you go through grief. I had to do that for a few years. I got over it. I believe it made me stronger. It made me focus on being more of a father.”
Despite the early end to his NBA career, Bosh revealed that he received offers from EuroLeague teams to continue playing in Europe. However, he was not in a position to take those offers at the time, explaining, “I wasn’t in a position where I wanted to up and move my family. I had babies at the time. I took it as a sign and continued to move on. But I had a couple of offers. It wasn’t Greece. Spain, France. In the EuroLeague.”
Initially, Bosh had come to Serbia not with the intention of playing but to support his former teammate Dragic. However, seeing his old Raptors teammate Rasho Nesterovic out on the court sparked a change of heart. Bosh decided to join in, getting up and down the court a few times in what turned out to be a nostalgic moment for fans and players alike.
Seeing Chris Bosh, an often underrated big man and a key part of the Miami Heat’s championship runs during the LeBron era, back on the court was a special moment. While his professional playing days may be behind him, Bosh’s brief return to the game served as a reminder of his talent and the indelible mark he left on the sport.
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