Each NBA team’s most devastating injury in franchise history
Most devastating injury in Miami Heat history: Chris Bosh
In the wake of LeBron James leaving the Miami Heat return to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer of 2014, many thought that the team could still compete in the East with a good-but-aging Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
It didn’t work. With Wade and Bosh missing a combined 58 games, the defending Eastern Conference Champs missed the playoffs altogether in 2014-15. While the team made the playoffs the following season, it was clear that the championship window was sealed shut in South Beach.
A lot of that had to do with the decline of the Heat’s two stars. Wade’s athleticism continued to slowly fade away as he approached his mid-30s. While Bosh still looked like one of the games better stretch bigs, far more serious troubles were around the corner for the 11-time NBA All-Star.
Towards the end of the 2014-15 campaign, Bosh played in only 44 games and missed the playoffs entirely due to a blood clot in his lung. He came back the next season and played 53 games and once again made the All-Star team, but the blood clots returned again — this time in his leg — and he didn’t play in any more games after Feb 9, 2016.
Bosh attempted to return to the court in subsequent seasons, but the Heat eventually waived him in 2017. In February 2019, Bosh officially announced his retirement.
Bosh’s ailments combined with Wade’s decline, departure and return officially signified the end of the “Big 3” era in Miami, as the team is now treading water in the Eastern Conference with a cavalcade of average-at-best players.