Aron Baynes finally sees the light at the end of the tunnel. According to Brian Windhorst of ESPNthe veteran center has signed a two-year contract with the Brisbane Bullets of the Australian National Basketball League, an agreement that comes after not having played since the summer of 2021, at which time he suffered a serious spinal cord injury during his participation in the Tokyo Olympics.
At 35 years old, Baynes is still aiming to return to the NBA. In January of this year he stressed it in an interview and this summer he has reaffirmed it by doing private training for some franchises. That is why he has decided to play with the Bullets. He also had offers from Europe and China, but in those cases he was not allowed to include a clause in the contract that would let him go free if an offer from the NBA arrived. His agreement with the Bullets does contemplate such a possibility.
Now is the time to show that you can continue to have a place in the best league in the world. During the 2020-21 campaign, in which he played 53 games with Toronto (31 starts), he averaged 6.1 points and 5.2 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per night. He always delivered in the American competition, but it is normal for teams to prefer to check his status in official matches before launching to give him a chance.
(Photograph by Eric Gay – Pool/Getty Images)
