Chris Bosh left the Toronto Raptors in the midst of his prime. What happened if he never left? How would it have impacted both Toronto and the NBA itself?
It was a rainy morning on July 9, 2010, when news broke that the Toronto Raptors had sent Chris Bosh to the Miami Heat on a sign-and-trade deal. To the majority of Raptors Nation, this news wasn’t shocking at all. It simply confirmed something they already saw coming.
The Raptors just finished another disappointing season. Despite re-tooling prior to the year, the team finished 2009-10 with a 40-42 record and just missed the playoffs. The franchise appeared was heading nowhere and even at their peak, couldn’t win a playoff series.
Bosh was a 26-year-old at the peak of his playing ability. He had just put up the best stats of his career: 24 points (on 51.8% shooting) and 10.8 rebounds. Toronto was an entertaining city with lavish nightlife and a passionate basketball fanbase.
But even an iron-willed basketball star would’ve balked at the chance of joining the greatest basketball player and an NBA champion in South Beach.
Bosh never owed the franchise or the city anything. He was from Texas, he loved living in America, and he hated how nobody south of the border gave two hoots about the Raptors unless they were choking in the playoffs.
You all know what happened next.
Bosh would play the George Harrison to James’s John Lennon and Wade’s Paul McCartney in Miami and win two chips with four straight Finals appearances. The Raptors died and were reborn as the championship contenders they are now.
But let’s revisit the 2010 offseason and speculate what might have happened had Bosh turned down that tempting career option…