Chris Bosh did not hide his frustration last year after he wasn’t named a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2020 enshrinement class.
“I’m not going to lie, man. I’m disappointed that I didn’t even get considered,” Bosh said last February shortly after the 2020 finalists were announced, a list that included Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. “I was really, really looking forward to going in with this class.”
But the former Miami Heat forward is experiencing much more positive emotions just one year later.
Bosh, 36, was one of the 14 finalists named Tuesday for possible induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the 2021 class. This marks the second year that Bosh is eligible for consideration after his playing career came to an end in 2016.
“Words cannot express the feeling,” Bosh posted on Instagram of being a finalist. “Thank you so much for everyone who has helped me through my career. Basketball has given me everything and I am truly grateful.”
Former Heat guard Tim Hardaway is also among the finalists for the Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2021 class.
The list of former NBA players who were named finalists for the 2021 Hall of Fame class: Bosh, Michael Cooper, Hardaway, Marques Johnson, Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace and Chris Webber.
The 2021 Hall of Fame inductees will be unveiled on May 16, with the enshrinement ceremony scheduled to take place in September.
While blood clot issues ended Bosh’s NBA career early after 13 seasons, he still accomplished a lot. He put up career averages of 19.2 points on 49.4% shooting, 8.5 rebounds, two assists and one block in 893 regular-season games (881 starts), and he was an 11-time All-Star.
Bosh is one of 13 players in NBA history to average at least 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds in a career that included at least 11 All-Star selections.
The other 12 are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Charles Barkley, Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Patrick Ewing, Elvin Hayes, Karl Malone, Moses Malone, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon and Bob Pettit. All 12 of those players are in the Hall of Fame.
In six seasons with the Heat from 2010-16, Bosh won two NBA championships, appeared in four NBA Finals and was voted into six All-Star Games. He averaged 18 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.9 blocks in 384 regular-season games with Miami, spending four of those seasons playing alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade as part of the Big 3.
Among the Heat’s all-time leaders, Bosh ranks fifth in points (6,914), scoring average (18.0) and free throws made (1,469), sixth in defensive rebounds (2,258) and field goals made (2,595), seventh in total rebounds (2,816) and blocks (332), and 10th in minutes played (13,121).
Bosh and the Heat had a falling out in 2016 when he believed he was ready to resume his playing career after battling blood clots, but the Heat believed it wasn’t safe for him to do so. The Heat eventually waived Bosh in July 2017 to clear his contract from its salary cap once his blood clot issues were ruled a career-ending illness by an NBA doctor.
But the Heat and Bosh later reconciled, as Bosh came to accept the fact that he played his final NBA game and stopped working toward an NBA comeback.
Bosh has spent a lot of time around the Heat in recent seasons before the COVID-19 pandemic began limiting interaction, sitting courtside at various home games and spending time with players, coaches and team executives. He has even been at practices helping to drill players.
Bosh had his jersey retired by the Heat during the 2018-19 season. Bosh, Wade, O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, and Hardaway are the five Heat players who have had their jerseys retired by the organization.
Already enshrined in the Hall of Fame for careers that included time with the Heat are Ray Allen, Mourning, O’Neal, Gary Payton, and Pat Riley. Wade is on track to be eligible to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023.
The other 2021 Hall of Fame finalists from the North American Screening Committee are coaches Rick Adelman, Bill Russell and Jay Wright.
From the Women’s Screening Committee, the finalists are Leta Andrews and Marianne Stanley as coaches, and Yolanda Griffith and Lauren Jackson as players.
“I think he should be a first ballot Hall of Famer,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of Bosh when the Heat retired his jersey in 2019. “I don’t have the statistics. He’s an 11-time All-Star, two-time champion, an Olympic gold medalist, one of the biggest winners of this era of generation of players. Yeah, to me he’s a first ballot of Hall of Famer.”
Bosh missed out on becoming a first ballot Hall of Famer last year, but his chances of getting in this year improved on Tuesday.
