NBA legend Chris Bosh explained how Gordon Hayward’s gruesome ankle injury and Kobe Bryant’s Oscar ended his desire to come back from blood clots

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The Miami Heat recently retired Chris Bosh’s number after he gave up on his quest to make a return following blood clots.
During a podcast with Dan Le Batard, Bosh explained that it took him two years to give up on his comeback dream.
He finally lost the will for a comeback when he got over his anger and started watching games again, and the first thing he witnessed was Gordon Hayward’s gruesome ankle injury.
Bosh also noted that Kobe Bryant’s win at the Academy Awards helped push him into retirement.

The Miami Heat retired Chris Bosh’s number after he finally gave up on his quest to make a comeback from the blood clots that prematurely ended his great career.

Bosh was recently a guest on Dan Le Batard’s podcast, "Le Batard & Friends — South beach Sessions," and explained how it was the gruesome injury to Gordon Hayward that helped him finally let go of his quest.

Bosh explained that he was angry and bitter about how things ended with the Miami Heat following the 2015-16 season, which was cut short by blood clots in his legs. Before the 2016-17 season, the Heat refused to clear Bosh to play after he reportedly failed a physical and more clots were found.

However, when the 2017-18 season came around, and with Bosh still determined to return to the game, he decided to "get back connected with the game" by tuning into his first game on TV in two seasons. Five minutes into that first game, Boston Celtics star Gordon Hayward suffered a gruesome ankle injury, and it effectively ended Bosh’s comeback bid.

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images"After Gordon Hayward dislocated his ankle, that’s when I kinda was like, I tell people, that took the wind out of my sail," Bosh told Le Batard.

Bosh explained that he had been struggling with the notion of not being able to leave the game on his terms. But then he saw a fellow superstar with a severe injury and Bosh lost his enthusiasm for a comeback.

"[Hayward is] a superstar. He’s a superstar and look at his ankle. His ankle was out of its socket. And, that was my first time watching basketball in a while. I said, ‘Yo, I’m going to get back connected with the game.’ First five minutes of me saying, ‘Let me get back into this. Let me get my mind in this.’ I didn’t watch any basketball last year. [I was] too mad. I was still working out, still in shape. But I need to watch the game. I need to know what is going on in the league, and within the first five minutes, his ankle was out of his body, and I am watching it on live TV … I was just like, ‘Oh man.’ I didn’t have the same enthusiasm in those workouts after that."

It is easy to imagine that Bosh saw himself lying on the court at that moment, only his condition could have been infinitely worse as playing put his life at risk.

According to Bosh, he did not completely give up on the comeback at that point and was still working out with a return to the NBA on his mind.

The final nail came several months later when Kobe Bryant won an Academy Award for his short film, "Dear Basketball."

Bosh had lost the enthusiasm for his NBA comeback but was still looking for something else to fill the void.

"You know who did it for me? Kobe winning the Oscar. That was kinda like, ‘Damn dude!’," Bosh said. "I was talking to Kobe. We had dinner one time, and he was telling me, ‘Yeah, yeah, you know,’ talking about the Oscar. ‘This dude is nuts. Kobe is crazy. I know he got 81 on us, but he’s crazy. He thinks he is going to get an Oscar! Ha ha ha ha. Isn’t that crazy, guys?’ And then you watch him go across stage, and it’s like, ‘Ah man! Dude!’"

It sounds like Bosh now has his sights set on an Oscar of his own.

You can listen to the entire interview here, with Bosh’s comments on Hayward and Bryant coming at about the 23:00 mark.

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