The playing future of Australian basketball star Aron Baynes is in doubt, with the centre ruled out for the upcoming NBA season due to an injury suffered at the Tokyo Olympics.
Baynes was part of the Boomers’ bronze medal triumph at Tokyo but missed most of Australia’s campaign after slipping over in the change rooms and suffering a serious neck injury.
The 34-year-old was hospitalised with nerve damage and was stretchered off the plane as he returned to Australia after the Tokyo Games.
According to an AAP report, Baynes’ manager Daniel Moldovan is hopeful the centre can make a return to the court next season.
But ever since the Boomers arrived back from Tokyo, coach Brian Goorjian and several players have struggled to contact the 208-centimetre big man.
“When I got back [from the Olympics] I gave it a couple of days and I messaged him, and then messaged him again, and then messaged his wife,” Goorjian told AAP.
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“I just wanted him to know we care about him and if basketball is over, we’re still thinking of him.
“But you get to a point and say, ‘well, maybe it’s an emotional time for him now and he wants space’.”
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Where Baynes goes next in his career will be a mystery for some time after he was recently waived by the Toronto Raptors after one season with the team.
After signing a two-year deal worth just over $19 million, Baynes appeared in 53 games for the Raptors last season, averaging 6.1 points and 5.2 rebounds.
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While his tenure with Toronto didn’t go to plan, Baynes earned that big-money contract for his standout 2019-20 season with the Phoenix Suns, where he emerged as one of the league’s top stretch-fives with his ability to knock down shots from long range.
Baynes made his NBA debut for the San Antonio Spurs in 2013 and became an NBA champion with the organisation a season later.
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