Bosh fails physical, not cleared for Miami Heat return
Chris Bosh #1 of the Miami Heat watches on from the bench against the Charlotte Hornets during game four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals of the 2016 NBA Playoffs at Time Warner Cable Arena on April 25, 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images/AFP
Miami Heat star Chris Bosh, who missed the second half of each of the past two NBA seasons because of blood clots, failed a pre-season physical and can’t return to action, the team said Friday.
“The Miami Heat and Chris Bosh, in consultation with team doctors and other physicians, have been working together for many months with the mutual goal of having Chris return to the court as soon as possible,” the Heat said in a statement.
“Chris has now taken his pre-season physical. The Miami Heat regret that it remains unable to clear Chris to return to basketball activities, and there is no timetable for his return.”
The Heat said privacy rules prevented them from further comment.
The team’s announcement comes a week after 11-time All-Star Bosh declared himself ready to return.
He hasn’t played since February 9 after the emergence of blood clots in his calf.
He also missed the second half of the 2014-15 season with blood clots, with one moving to his lung and forcing him into an extended hospital stay.
In comments to the Open Run podcast last week, the 32-year-old said he expected to be at the team’s training camp in the Bahamas, even though Heat doctors, long at loggerheads with him over his fitness to return to the court, hadn’t cleared him.
He said in the podcast that he believed he had found a successful regimen for treating the clots that would have blood-thinning drugs out of his system before he played or trained.
“I’ve made it clear from the jump if I’m ready to play I want to play,” Bosh said. “I will play basketball in the NBA. I’m confident.”
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