Pat Riley said he’s open to Chris Bosh playing this season.
Not everyone is convinced of the Heat president’s authenticity.
Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald:Some in the Bosh camp remain angry and suspicious of the Heat’s intentions, wondering if Miami was motivated by clearing cap space. A Heat source insists this is not the case, that Miami wants him to play if doctors are comfortable with it.
An NBA-employed friend says Bosh very much wants to play and believes he should be cleared. If the Heat fights him on this, it wouldn’t be surprising if Bosh takes this issue to the players union
one issue that has been discussed is whether Bosh should come off blood thinners or continue taking them, according to a person briefed on the matter.
If Bosh comes off the medication this summer, there’s no reason why he couldn’t play.
But even if he stays on the thinners, Bosh has tried to convince the Heat to allow him to play while taking a new medication that would be out of his system in 8 to 12 hours, or by game-time, thus lessening or eliminating the inherent risks of playing a contact sport while on thinners.
It’s hard to believe the Heat have nefarious intentions -- not just because they reportedly expect Bosh to play next season, but because a salary-cap workaround would likely fail.
If Bosh goes a year without playing (last game:Feb. 9), Miami waives him and a doctor approved by the NBA and players union says Bosh’s condition is career-ending, the Heat could exclude Bosh’s salary from team salary. He’d still get paid. He just wouldn’t count toward the cap.
So, the $75,868,170 Bosh is owed the next three years is protected. It’s just a matter of whether Miami frees cap space.
But even the Heat sitting Bosh for a year and convincing a union-approved doctor of Bosh’s inability to safely play wouldn’t be enough.
If Bosh plays 25 games for another team after an injury exclusion, his salary would be put back on Miami’s books. That might allow the Heat temporary cap room to sign someone, but with Bosh’s salary applied, their luxury-tax bill would be prohibitively enormous.
So, we’re probably back to the previous questions:
Can Bosh safely play while on blood thinners? Probably not, though there might not be total agreement on that.
Does Bosh need to continue taking blood thinners? That’s a much more complicated question. Hence, the lack of a resolution to this issue.