Chris Bosh’s situation with the Miami Heat is starting to get ugly

Chris Bosh has taken to social media to let the public know he intends to play while the Miami Heat remain undecided on his future.

It’s starting to get ugly.

Chris Bosh has taken to social media this week to let the public know that he is indeed practicing and expects the Miami Heat to medically clear him to play this season. However, according to the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson, Bosh remains frustrated with the team’s indecision.

"We’re told the Bosh camp remains frustrated with the Heat’s handling of his situation, and that’s part of the reason Bosh and wife Adrienne have gone on a social media blitz this week. As one NBA official said, Bosh wants the public to know he wants to play amid the Heat’s silence."

And so that’s where the social media blitz comes from. Bosh posted a video to Instagram Monday saying “Yes, I’m hooping. I’m a hooper.” Later that day he posted a video to Snapchat of him performing shooting and dribbling drills independent of the team. On Tuesday, Bosh posted a picture of himself in a gym with Dwyane Wade.

There seems to be a growing mistrust from Bosh’s side, according to the report, since the Heat can apply to have Bosh’s salary removed from the cap if he hasn’t played a game by Feb. 9, a full year since his last game.

Bosh is due $25.3 million in 2017-18 and $26.8 million in 2018-19. But the process is complicated. As Jackson reports, the labor agreement states “a doctor that is jointly selected by the league and players association” must agree his condition “is career-ending, or severe enough to put him at risk if he continues playing.”

The problem: it’s doubtful that Bosh, in conjunction with the players association, would agree to appoint a doctor who would say he cannot play.

So, again, this could get very, very ugly.

Bosh has been advocating to play while taking a blood thinner that would be out of his system within 10 hours, so that he could plan his medication around game times. The Heat initially shot down this idea in April, according to Jackson, but conversations have recently re-started.

More from Jackson:

"There are differences in the medical community about whether someone who has had two clotting episodes in 12 months (but like Bosh, doesn’t have the gene making him pre-disposed to clots) should remain on thinners, and whether an NBA player – more susceptible than non-athletes to leg trauma – should take the new medication that’s out of the system in eight hours."

Playing in a game before Feb. 9 would re-start the clock on the process of removing Bosh’s salary from the cap, though he is allowed to play in preseason games without resetting the timeline.

And then there is this: if the Heat cannot get Bosh’s contract cleared from its cap through this process in time for a 2017 free agency push, they could opt to use the stretch provision, cutting him and spreading his remaining salary over the next seven years.

How does the stretch provision work?

If Bosh is waived by today, August 31, then his remaining $76 million would be paid in even increments of about $10.8 million over the next seven years (twice the years on his remaining deal, plus one). That money would count against the cap, but it also means savings of nearly $15 million and $16 million in each of the next two years.

But that’s unlikely, given that the Heat will likely wait to see how Bosh’s situation plays out for a little longer.

However, if the Heat decide at some point during the season that they would rather cut ties with Bosh, they can still use the stretch provision. Only they would have to pay Bosh his full $23.3 million this season, then stretch the final two years of the deal over the following five seasons in increments of $10.4 million per year. Again saving the Heat enough money to sign a mid-to-top tier free agent next summer.

The Heat would only do this if (a) they are indeed conspiring to get rid of Bosh’s contract as the team moves in a younger direction or (b) they don’t feel comfortable allowing Bosh to play given his medial history, and cannot come to an agreement with Bosh and the players union.

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Neither of those two things have happened or been confirmed, so I’m merely speculating. However, the Heat haven’t offered specifics on where they stand in regards to Bosh since his second bout with blood clots, and training camp is about a month away.

There doesn’t seem to be any rush on the organization’s end, and every day that passes it seems less and less likely that Bosh will be dressing to play when the season begins.

This will probably get uglier before it gets better.