Ex-Celtic Aron Baynes Out Of Olympics Due To Freak Rest room Harm

The freakiest of accidents has ended Aron Baynes’ hopes of main Australia to Olympic gold on the court docket.

The Toronto Raptors and Australia middle will miss the remainder of the Tokyo Olympics as a result of a neck injury he suffered Wednesday. Baynes initially harm himself in the course of the first half of the Australia-Italy sport, however his ailment worsened within the second half after he slipped within the staff rest room.

“It was a sophisticated sequence of occasions,” Australia chief medical officer David Hughes instructed reporters Friday, per Yahoo! Sports activities’ Kellen Forrest. “He did undergo an damage in the course of the match on the court docket, after which he had a slip within the rest room and suffered additional damage.”

Baynes had been taking part in nicely in opposition to Italy as Australia’s beginning middle. He scored 14 factors and grabbed seven rebounds in 14 minutes previous to his damage.

Australia males’s basketball completed fourth within the 1996, 2000 and 2016 Olympics and is intent on incomes its first medal on the Tokyo Video games. Baynes instructed reporters he nonetheless believes his teammates can obtain that objective with out him.

“I, together with the remainder of the staff, have been working so arduous in our quest for a historic Olympic medal and I’m gutted that I can’t full the journey with the boys,” Baynes mentioned, per Forrest. “However I’ve each confidence that they may get the job carried out.”

Baynes, 34, performed for the Boston Celtics in 2017-18 and 2018-19. The Celtics traded him to the Phoenix Suns in June 2019. He performed for the Western Convention aspect till November 2020 when he joined the Raptors on a two-year contract.