Miami Heat: A Look At Alonzo Mourning’s Darkest Moments

Alonzo Mourning was honored last weekend as he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Of his 16 years as an NBA player, all but five of them were spent with the Miami Heat. His second stint with the team and his professional career ended abruptly in 2006 after injuring his knee during Miami’s title defense of the previous season.

However, the ending to his first go-round with the Heat was a tumultuous one, marked by ongoing health concerns and questionable loyalty to the franchise.

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Miami had been a playoff team since 1995, when

Pat Riley

first joined the team as the head coach and president of basketball operations. Riley’s first personnel move was to acquire a rising star in Mourning, whose contract demands and fractured relationship with teammate

Larry Johnson

forced a trade by the Charlotte Hornets.

Mourning soon became the face of the Heat franchise, and Riley built a team to complement his skills as a defensive stalwart and capable low-post scorer. Still, the Heat never made the leap to title contention, failing to get past the Chicago Bulls or New York Knicks in classic post-season battles.

Riley, ever the pragmatist, retooled his team at the start of free agency in 2000, acquiring Eddie Jones, Brian Grant and Anthony Mason to join Mourning and All-Star point guard Tim Hardaway. The moves seemingly cemented Miami as title favorites.

Or that would have been the case, if Zo’s career wasn’t sent into a tailspin by a life-threatening medical condition.

Mourning’s first symptoms were swelling and intense fatigue. His immediate response was to undergo a rigorous two-hour workout, but he understood the severity of the disease when he later passed out in his agent’s car. The diagnosis was focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS)–a cause of nephrotic syndrome in children and adolescents, as well as an important cause of kidney failure in adults–and intense treatment would be needed to save his kidneys, but the 2000-01 season, once filled with promise, would move on without him.

Of course, the tireless work ethic led to an unexpectedly quick return to the game, and Mourning actually played in 13 late-season games. His return, although inspiring, was disruptive to the frontcourt chemistry of Mason and Grant and a three-game sweep by the Hornets in the first round of the playoffs ended the season.

Zo would languish through the following season, only putting up just more than 15 points per game and the Heat would miss the playoffs for the first time since Riley took over.

He sat out the entire 2002-03 season with Miami, his last year of a seven-year contract that had paid him more than $100 million.

Mourning was now a free agent, and his pride put him at odds with the franchise and Riley. While Zo saw himself as a valuable player that was still a contributor, Riley saw someone who was never going to be as productive as he had once been and should be compensated accordingly.

Zo was courted by a number of suitors, including the Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs and the New Jersey Nets, fresh off two consecutive trips to the NBA Finals. The Nets had a fast-paced team that had no answer for the L.A. Lakers, a Western Conference juggernaut that featured Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

A healthy Mourning might have been enough to limit O’Neal, and Zo, hopeful of the Nets’ title chances, left the Heat after eight seasons. He signed a four-year deal worth $22 million that he would never come close to earning.

The move was doomed from the start. Even at full strength, Mourning was more suited for half-court offensive sets. The Nets relied on their fast break and perimeter shooting, neither of which suited Zo’s declining skills.

Moreover, Mourning was far from healthy; his disease would eventually progress to a dangerous point and a transplant was his best hope.

Balancing his ongoing health issues, Mourning would only play in 12 games for New Jersey in 2003-04 and just 18 the following season. He was traded to the Toronto Raptors, a team that was far from playoff contention. Mourning vowed never to play for the Raptors and the team eventually waived the former All-Star, buying out his contract for an undisclosed amount.

Of course, Mourning rejoined Miami in 2005. The team was again a contender, built around O’Neal and a young superstar named Dwyane Wade.

Mourning was an integral role player during the 2005-06 season. As O’Neal became less and less dominant, Zo seemed revitalized by his return to Miami, providing his trademark tenacity and defense as well as occasional scoring.

His renewed commitment erased the ugliness that drove a wedge between him and the team’s front office. For many fans, watching Mourning get the ring that had eluded him earlier in his career was the ultimate satisfaction.

While the knee injury was an unfortunate actual end to his career, in many ways the 2006 championship seemed more like the last chapter of a storybook career in Miami.