Last summer, former Boston Celtics center Aron Baynes was in Tokyo with Team Australia in pursuit of an Olympic medal. They would end up finishing with a bronze, but Baynes could only watch from a hospital bed, according to a new story from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
Baynes suffered a series of falls in Japan, both on and off the court, that led to internal bleeding and a months-long fight for the full use of his limbs, according to Windhorst. He had to wade through pain medications, treatments, language barriers with doctors and nurses and stringent COVID-19 protocols in both Japan and Australia before being able to get back to see his family again.
He went from dunking and competing at the highest level for his country in the Olympics to struggling to stand and re-learning to walk in the span of weeks.
Now he wants to return to the NBA — partially because referees are allowing more physicality this season, he told Windhorst.
