It ends here, right?
Chris Bosh doesn't need to thank doctors for possibly saving his life again, or hug the Miami Heat for treating him as a father of five rather than a commodity to victories.
He can still believe there's some sort of medical and basketball conspiracy against him, like some Oliver Stone script, if he wants.
But after being diagnosed with a third blood clot in less than three years, according to sources, it's time for the Heat veteran to call it a career. A good career. A great one, even.
He'd walk out the door at 32 with two championship rings, a certain Hall of Fame bid, more than $76 million still guaranteed to him and a wife and young family to further enjoy his lottery life.
Just let him walk out the door now. Please let it end here. This isn't a tragedy, as some are calling it. It's a sad story. It's unfortunate considering the way it's fallen for him the last few seasons.
But a tragedy would be Bosh ignoring yet another blood clot, fighting to get back on the court, believing he still has good basketball in him and then us realizing at some point the life-threatening warnings doctors gave him were right after all.
It's been like watching a divorce court between Bosh and the Heat in recent months, with each side making subtle arguments, each side delicately drawing on medical information, each side trying to get its point across.
In some ways, it is odd Bosh fought this so hard considering his money was guaranteed and his health wasn't. He always has been a player who saw more than the game, who learned Spanish in the offseason and read books about genetic science or Japanese samurai.
How could someone who realizes it's just a game deny medical evidence so completely?
That's the easiest question to answer of all: He loves basketball. He found people who said the health risk is minimal. There's something admirable in that, considering we're in an age when so many players are accused of just playing for money or celebrity.
Here is someone saying in the loudest of ways how much he loves the game, and to what ends he wants to keep playing it, even if it seems a bit foolhardy to the rest of us.
Bosh suggested in an online video this week how he wanted to play in the playoffs last spring and the Heat refused. The implication was the Heat wanted to get his rich contract off the salary-cap books.
There's no doubt the Heat will want that contract off the books in February, if that's how everything works out. But they'd rather have a healthy Bosh than that.
He would have helped them reach the Eastern Conference Finals last year. They can't buy a better player than him with that money.
There are so many questions with answers only Bosh and the Heat know. Medical questions. Privacy questions. Blood-clot questions. Beyond all that, there's the truth, which can be harder still to get your arms around.
Four of five dentists recommend a certain toothpaste. But what of the fifth? Is that dentist dismissed? Does his advice mean nothing? That's what seems to be happening with Bosh and the Heat.
The Heat apparently have the proverbial four dentists saying Bosh's issues mean it's too risky to continue his basketball career. Bosh apparently has the fifth saying otherwise.
At least that was the case until this latest blood clot found this week during Bosh's pre-training-camp physical. This is three blood clots in less than three years.
Bosh didn't respond immediately Friday to the Heat's statement about his failing the physical. He didn't respond to reports a new blood clot has been found in his body.
He didn't respond to the report of him going to the league offices in New York and receiving a second medical opinion supporting the Heat's doctors. By now, it's clear this isn't about salary-cap money or roster building or some grand conspiracy against him.
It's about his life. And, unfortunately, it's time for him to go live it without basketball.
