MIAMI _ Miami Heat All-Star power forward Chris Bosh has failed his team physical and is unable to return to the NBA, due to a recurrence of blood clotting, the Sun Sentinel has confirmed Friday through a source close to the process.
Bosh has missed the second half of the past two seasons due to clotting episodes, but had been pushing for a return, despite ongoing concerns by the Heat's medical staff. Now, with a party familiar with the process saying that clotting continues to be at issue, it is possible that Bosh's NBA career is over.
Through it all, an apparent public-relations battle continues between Bosh and the Heat.
The Heat issued a statement about Bosh's status on Friday, without directly addressing an actual medical setback.
"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. 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 statement read.
Bosh traveled to New York on Wednesday, according to a party close to the process, to meet with the NBA's medical staff. NBA clearance would be required for a return. Such a meeting also could be to contest the Heat's findings.
Bosh has spent the past week utilizing social media to chronicle his attempts to return to the NBA, while the Heat had declined comment on the issue until Friday's release.
As part of their statement, the Heat on Friday said, "We are not able to comment further in light of Article XXII, Section 3(e) of the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, which precludes a team from releasing certain medical information without a player's consent."
Bosh had been scheduled on Friday to release his latest video chapter detailing his attempted comeback.
Whether Bosh accepts the Heat's latest diagnosis is unclear, with interactions between Bosh and the team minimal through this process, and further medical arbitration a possibility.
In a self-directed video chapter on LeBron James' Uninterrupted digital media network that was released Wednesday, Bosh spoke of skepticism with Heat medical officials when it came to their findings in February.
"Seeing the team doctors," Bosh said in the video, "they told me that my season's over, my career is probably over and, yeah, this just happens, this is just how it is. I felt right away that I was written off."
The Heat's report on Bosh's health apparently mirrored those findings seven months later.
According to a source familiar with Bosh's medical history, a consideration had been a plan to utilize a regimen of scheduled blood thinners and possibly a protective mesh to allow Bosh to return to the court.
Those plans apparently now have been put on hold, at least from the Heat's perspective.
Bosh has been able to travel and the latest occurrence is not believed to be life threatening, according to a party familiar with the process. However, the party familiar with the process said it could require Bosh to receive renewed treatment, although Bosh's stance on such an approach is not known.
The Heat had been receptive to means that could have allowed Bosh to return with reduced risk of a repeat episode.
Bosh had been scheduled to attend the fundraising event of former Heat teammate Shane Battier on Thursday night but did not appear. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and Heat President Pat Riley were at that event, but were not available for comment.
A photo of Heat players training at AmericanAirlines Arena was posted on social media Thursday, with Bosh notable by his absence. Of the 19 players under contract to the Heat for training camp, only Bosh and guard Josh Richardson, who is sidelined with a knee injury, have failed to take the team's required conditioning test.
Instead, the Heat will now go into Tuesday's start of training camp in the Bahamas without their All-Star forward, just a year after Bosh held a media conference expressing confidence that there would not be additional clotting episodes.
Should Bosh be unable to return, his salary would come off the Heat's salary cap on Feb. 9, the one-year anniversary from his most recent regular-season appearance. Bosh, however, could contest such an approach by the Heat.
