Raptors icon Chris Bosh plays first basketball game in years
It’s been nearly 15 years since Chris Bosh suited up for the Toronto Raptors, and many fans now consider his days with the team a distant memory.
Bosh spent the first seven seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Raptors before joining Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in Miami for four consecutive NBA Finals appearances, winning it all twice.
But to Bosh, actually playing basketball was a distant memory until he suited up this past weekend at Goran Dragic’s retirement event in his home country of Slovenia.
Bosh hadn’t played much basketball since the 2015-16 season with Miami when a blood clot discovery mid-season abruptly ended his NBA career.
“It all went good. A couple of championships. Got to meet some great people, have some great teammates, great stories, great locker rooms. I’m a lucky guy,” he told BasketNews’ Mindaugas Bertys while reflecting on his NBA journey.
But Bosh admitted that his career being cut short wasn’t the easiest on his mental health.
“It was very tough,” he said. “It was the death of my career, to be honest… any time dealing with loss and death and stuff like that, you go through grief. I had to do that for a few years. I got over it. I believe it made me stronger. It made me focus on being more of a father.”
Chris Bosh gets honest about his retirement.
"It was the death of my career … Any time dealing with loss and death, you go through grief. I had to do that for a few years." pic.twitter.com/vqvgx2AktA
— Mindaugas Bertys (@the_mindaugas) August 24, 2024
Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, and Nikola Jokic were also in action over the weekend in Slovenia.
The now 40-year-old Bosh didn’t get much action in the star-studded event but decided to play after seeing that former Raptors teammate Rasho Nesterovic was also playing.
“Once I saw Rasho Nesterovic get out there, I said, ‘Okay, I could go up and down a couple of times,'” Bosh said. “Rasho’s great; we’re all older now, but those years in Toronto, they kind of brought me back.”
You can see the clip of Bosh suiting up below:
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