By Jonah Sharf
On March 27, 2001, the Miami Heat’s Alonzo Mourning returned to action after missing the first 69 games of the season. He missed these games after being diagnosed with the kidney ailment focal glomerulosclerosis, and despite his inspiring comeback, the Heat couldn’t win the game. Mourning scored 9 points and grabbed 6 rebounds, and would play the final 13 games of the season, averaging 13.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Mourning played the entire next season, but had to miss the 2002-03 season due to his kidney disease, which seemed like the end of his career until he received a kidney transplant in late 2003. He would return to the NBA with the New Jersey Nets for the end of the 2003-04 season, then returned to Miami in March of 2005 and served mainly as a backup for Shaquille O’Neal the rest of his career. Despite being a back-up, he was a significant part of the Heat’s first ever championship and averaged 2.4 blocks per game in the last three seasons of his career.