Former Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh offered a heartfelt response to the news that he’d been elected on Sunday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Bosh, whose NBA career was cut short because of blood clots, was part of the Hall’s 2021 class of 16 people who made their own impact on the game of basketball. Of that group, only Bosh and Paul Pierce were elected in their first year of eligibility.
After spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Toronto Raptors, Bosh signed with the Heat as a free agent in the summer of 2010 and was joined by fellow free agent LeBron James.
Teaming with James and Heat legend Dwyane Wade, Bosh played an important part in helping the Heat reach the NBA Finals in each of the next four years. In both 2012 and 2013, the Heat captured the league championship.
Bosh then began to endure his life-threatening troubles with blood clots during the 2014-15 season and was forced to retire after playing 53 games during the 2015-16 campaign.
The Hall of Fame’s class of 2020 was inducted on Saturday night, a ceremony delayed from last August by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bosh and the other 15 new Hall of Famers will officially be inducted in ceremonies scheduled for Sept. 11.