MIAMI – If Chris Bosh returns to the NBA, it won't be with the Miami Heat according to team president Pat Riley.
The Sun-Sentinel reports Riley said the Heat are no longer working with Bosh on his return to the league and that his continued medical issues will prohibit him from playing any further.
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"We feel that, based on the last exam, that his Heat career is probably over," Riley told assorted members of the media.
Bosh learned last week that he had failed a medical examination and was not cleared to participate with the Heat during this week's training camp in the Bahamas.
Bosh has missed parts of the last two seasons due to complications from blood clots.
If Bosh never suits up again for the Heat, the team will receive a break on the salary cap, but Riley claims their position on the perennial NBA All-Star has nothing to do with money.
"His health, playing and economics -- it's been health, health, health," the paper reports Riley said before the start of the team's media day. "Whatever the cap ramifications are, they are there, but we never ever thought about that."
Bosh has used social media and a series of short online films to show that he's healthy and ready to resume his NBA career, even if it is not with the Heat.
In the first episode of his series for the Uninterrupted, Bosh claims that the Heat had written him off after his complications during the 2016 All-Star break.
Riley disputes any contention between the team and Bosh.
"If there was a level of mistrust, I don't know what he's talking about," Riley told the Sun-Sentinel.
Head Coach Erik Spoelstra shared his concerns over Bosh's health on Monday morning.
"You know, this business is tough. The personal relationships and the things that happen that you can't control," said Spoelstra at a media briefing. "Everybody knows how much CB means to me and his family. I love CB dearly. It's tough to watch CB and his family go through this the last couple years."
The newspaper says Riley equates the mood within the Heat organization to that of when Magic Johnson announced he had HIV in 1991.
"Dealing with Magic Johnson and what he went through . . . it's not easy to be with a player for six years and watch him play and watch him accomplish what he's accomplished," Riley said. "I can't imagine what he's going through."