The NBA churns out stories at breakneck speed. But in this constant trickle of news, rumours, exploits and misunderstandings there are stories that are left untold without even occupying a space in the viewer’s memory. Half a season has passed and no one has remembered Aron Baynes even though it was only a few months since the Toronto Raptors terminated his contract. The Australian center suffered a faint in the locker room during the Italy-Australia match held at the Tokyo Olympics. Having to be hospitalized for several days in the Japanese capital.
Baynes completely lost his ability to stand and feared he was permanently paralyzed. In a report for ESPN, the former Raptors and Suns among others defines the time he spent in the hospital as the loneliest moments of his life. There he encountered tremendous difficulties in communicating with a medical team that isolated him as a result of COVID-19. It was not until his eleventh day of admission that the veteran player was able to get up and start working on his psychomotricity. It was a really difficult episode.
Counting the days to return
Since then, having turned 35 a little less than two months ago, Aron Baynes has not stopped working with the idea of returning to the NBA. It was his goal even during intensive therapy sessions with the goal of walking normally again. Now, with his physical faculties fully recovered, the center is preparing to return to the best league in the world at the start of next season. «If you see me right now you would never say that nothing has happened. I’ve made a lot of progress in six months,” says Baynes.
Daniel Moldovan, his agent, attests to this. It doesn’t have an off button. He wants to train for eight hours a day.” Baynes knows that his effort is no guarantee of anything when it comes to returning to the highest level. Two years ago he played the best basketball of his life for the Suns, earning a two-year, $14 million contract in Toronto. Although the second—the current one—wasn’t guaranteed. However, his time with the Canadians already left clear signs of exhaustion. Still, the center can’t get it out of his head. “I don’t know what the road will be like, but I’m going to leave everything to achieve it.” Good luck, Aron.
(Cover photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
