Miami Heat officials are reportedly not sure that Chris Bosh, who has endured multiple blood clotting issues over the past two seasons, can ever play again. For his part, the veteran forward repeatedly indicated that he wanted to return this past season, after having been sidelined for a second straight February.
One observer who wishes that the 32-year-old Bosh would simply retire is Bo Kimble. He recently offered his thoughts on the situation, speaking from the perspective of someone who had seen a beloved teammate collapse on a basketball court and die soon thereafter.
Kimble was a star player for Loyola Marymount in March 1991 when Hank Gathers, the other half of the Lions' high-scoring duo, fell to the floor following an alley-oop dunk. Gathers was diagnosed with a heart-muscle disorder, but he decided to keep playing, and even cut down on his beta-blocker medication because he felt that it made him sluggish.
Bosh is now facing a similar decision to possibly keep playing and risk exacerbating a potentially fatal condition. Kimble, now 50, hopes that Bosh takes his 11 all-star nods and two championships and walks away from the game.
"There are so many other things he could do with his life," Kimble told TMZ Sports. "Hank Gathers had the same thing. Hank could have been a comedian, an actor or did speaking engagements. It's not worth the risk. I would just say absolutely not, don't do it."
"I know there have been many questions regarding my health and when I will play again," Bosh wrote in March. "My situation this year has never been life-threatening. I am feeling great and currently I do not have deep-vein thrombosis. . . . I remain positive that I will be able to return this season."
"If Hank had the ability to do it again he wouldn't have paid the ultimate price," Kimble said to TMZ Sports. ". . . I am sure [Bosh] has children and they are going to need their father around as much as possible."
Gathers's younger brother Derrick agreed. "To this day I am just getting over the loss of my brother," he told the website, suggesting that Bosh "just fall back and retire."
As it happened, another player on the court when Gathers collapsed was Erik Spoelstra, then a guard for the University of Portland and now Bosh's head coach in Miami. After the Heat, were ousted from the playoffs without Bosh, Spoelstra would not get into specifics about his star foward, saying (via the Sun-Sentinel), "You really feel for C.B. because you know how much the game means to him."
"When you have somebody that you love and care for so much that's going through something he can't control, you just really feel for him," Spoelstra added.
On Friday, ESPN's Dan LeBatard reported that "the Heat expect Bosh to be able to play next season." He added, "What I'm telling you is that Bosh is committed to getting back, and the Heat are hopeful that that can be so."
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