Veteran center ready to return to NBA after freak accident
Dec 11, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons center Aron Baynes (12) warms up before the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
A veteran big man is reportedly on track to make a remarkable comeback.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reports Thursday that nine-year NBA veteran Aron Baynes is ready to return to the league and will work out for NBA teams in Las Vegas later this week. Baynes is now a year removed from suffering a spinal injury in a freak fall during the Tokyo Olympics last summer.
The 35-year-old Baynes was knocked unconscious when he slipped in the bathroom during the fourth quarter of a game between Italy and his native Australia, Windhorst adds. Baynes was hospitalized for two months and had to re-learn how to walk before finally playing basketball again last January.
Windhorst previously wrote a comprehensive feature on Baynes’ mysterious fall, the terrifying aftermath, and his subsequent recovery. You can read the piece in full here.
When he last played for the Toronto Raptors in 2020-21, Baynes averaged 6.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in 53 starts. He also previously played for San Antonio, Detroit, Boston, and Phoenix. While nobody knows yet just how much Baynes still has left to offer, it will be great to see him back on the court again (and possibly annoying some of the NBA’s biggest stars again).
