Blood-clot issues prematurely ended Chris Bosh’s NBA career, but his condition won’t keep him away from the game of basketball.
It also hasn’t driven him to consider entering the coaching ranks.
From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel‘s Ira Winderman (via HoopsHype):
Chris Bosh on what’s next: “Probably not coaching. It’s always very interesting. I’m always going to be around the game of basketball. I plan to keep my options open as a player moving forward, but that’s not coaching. Maybe front office work, working with teams and spreading the game, maybe teaching the game to young people, that’s something that’s a very big passion.”
Bosh hasn’t logged time in the NBA since Feb. 9, 2016, just before that season’s All-Star break. Some have posited that he could one day be cleared to make a return to the Association, and Bosh does note that he’ll “keep my options open as a player moving,” but that part feels like a long shot. There has yet to be any concrete evidence that doctors would clear him to take the court, and then there’s the matter of him finding a team that’s willing to help him advance his health risk.
Still, it’s good to hear that Bosh has plans beyond playing the game—or that he’s at least keeping his options. Suffering a premature end to his career couldn’t have been easy. It still has to be hard to deal with. He’s only 33. Many stars his age are thinking about hanging it up for good in a few years. They’re not roughly two full seasons into retirement.
As for Bosh not being interested in the coaching aspect, that feels like a damn shame. He was always one of the more cerebral players of his generation. He filled a lot of different roles during his heyday, his transition from the Toronto Raptors to third-wheel duty with the Miami Heat being the most notable. He should, at the very least, consider working with today’s younger bigs, as a stretchy tower himself who always struck a nice balance being facing up, spotting up, firing away from deep and operating on the block.
