SerpApi.Org
Blood clots have kept surfacing around the NBA.
Damian Lillard.
Victor Wembanyama.
Brandon Ingram.
Ausar Thompson.
Each of them has been fortunate enough to eventually return to their path in the league. Chris Bosh didn't have the same luck.
Every athlete knows retirement is coming at some point. That's hard enough. But the way the Hall of Famer received that news made it even tougher. And just as difficult, as CB4 said back in August 2021, was life after basketball — suddenly facing "those demons of not playing anymore."
Inside Bosh's NBA exit
Bosh's health issues started in February 2015. A blood clot traveled from his leg to his lung. The 2003 lottery pick spent days in the hospital. He returned the next season with the Miami Heat. But his comeback didn't last long. About a year later, doctors found another clot. This time, it was in his calf. Bosh later said Heat doctors told him his career was likely over.
Fast forward to the summer of 2017. Miami failed him on a physical before training camp. Days later, the Heat waived the veteran 6'11" big man. His seven-year run in South Beach was over.
Amid all of it, there were questions about his salary. Bosh also seemed to hold out hope for a return. Those hopes later turned into comeback wishes after the waiver. On February 12, 2019, however, the 11-time All-Star made it official.
Bosh played his last NBA game at 31. As he said on the "Finding Mastery" podcast, that's when most stars are still in their prime. The two-time champ was far from that stage, which made the transition even tougher. So did losing the "regimented" life that had shaped his entire adulthood.
"We do this. We do this. We're playing on Christmas. Hopefully, the playoffs. Everything revolved around that world. And sure, I've been lucky to have a couple of other things that I'm interested in, but that doesn't mean that you do them at a professional level, right? Or you open up some sort of business around that idea that doesn't necessarily happen like that. It was extremely difficult. I want people to understand that. I know I'm all cool now and very Zen now, but it was very, very tough trying times," he said.
The fight against post-career demons
Bosh talked about suddenly losing that structure. It hit hard. But there was even more to it.
Players get a certain kind of validation from the game. Fans love them for what they do on the hardwood. Once that stops, that wavering validation can gnaw at self-esteem. There's a chemical side too. Every game sends adrenaline through the body. Take that away and the void isn't just physical. It hits the mental too.
Bosh, however, fought back against it all.
"I found those things like writing, music to put my time into, spending time with my family, getting into that, being a father," he said.
CB4 called it the "ultimate challenge." Taking it on paid off, though. It kept the "big picture" together. Kept his "focus intact," too.
Journaling eventually turned into sketching and sketching became the seed for his 2021 book "Letters to a Young Athlete."
The Heat legend also built a quiet morning routine around coffee and reflection. CB4 called it his version of "meditation." Just sitting outside his garage each day to think before the rest of the day gets in the way. Just being "the old guy in the rocking chair."
By February 2026, that resilient mindset hadn't faded one bit. Bosh, now 42, said he was just "lucky to be alive."
