Aron Baynes, a former Boston Celtics big man, is looking like himself again after sustaining a horrific injury at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The Australian has been playing basketball in his own country with the Brisbane Bullets of the National Basketball League. He had a tremendous game against the Illawarra Hawks on Tuesday. Baynes led Brisbane with 20 points and 20 rebounds in a 95-88 loss to Illawarra.
Despite the loss, the stat line remained dominating, making its way onto my Twitter/X timeline and now you’re reading about it. Plus, it’s encouraging to see him doing well after such a traumatic event.
Baynes’ NBA career is presumably over, given he hasn’t played for a North American team since 2021.
No. 46 averaged 6.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 44.1% from the field and 26.2% from long range in his lone season in the North.
Aron Baynes is a pleasant memory from a strange period in Boston Celtics history.
Baynes played for the Celtics for two seasons, from 2017 to 2019, appearing in 132 games and starting 85 of them. He averaged 5.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, which was slightly better than he was for the Raptors. Baynes made 47.1% of his field goal tries and 29.2% of his three-point attempts.
Baynes’ two seasons in Boston were unusual to say the least. Of course, they included Kyrie Irving, who was acquired by the Cs in the summer of 2017 from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Despite being without its two stars, Irving and Gordon Hayward, Boston overachieved in Baynes’ first season and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cs had a more disastrous second season, as they were eliminated from the playoffs in the second round by the Milwaukee Bucks in just five games.
Despite the disappointing ending, most Celtics fans remember Baynes warmly because he was a great vibes guy. Plus, there was that one occasion when Tommy Heinsohn described what Baynes looked like in the shower.
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