Phoenix Suns: Aron Baynes cleared of COVID-19, en route to Orlando

Aron Baynes has tested negative for COVID-19 two consecutive times and is on his way to rejoin the Phoenix Suns in the Disney bubble.

Shams Charania, who did an extensive interview with Aron Baynes while he was still recovering from COVID-19, broke the news today that the big Aussie has had two consecutive negative tests thus clearing him from quarantine and now he is on his way to Orlando to rejoin the Phoenix Suns.

This is huge news for the Suns, who just took a loss in their second scrimmage game primarily due to poor play from their second unit. Baynes will give the Suns much-needed veteran experience off the bench, and more importantly, another scoring option.

Aron Baynes will provide a boost to the Phoenix Suns.

Baynes is not the kind of guy who is going to create a lot of his own shots, but with the advent of his newly installed 3-pointer, he has become a threat to score from anywhere on the court.

It will be interesting to see how quickly he suits up for the Suns. Ricky Rubio, who also joined the team late due to his own positive coronavirus result, sat out the first scrimmage game against the Utah Jazz and played limited minutes against the Celtics in an effort to ease him back into things.

With Baynes, however, there is only one more scrimmage game remaining and thus not a lot of time to ease him in. It would be surprising if he doesn’t at least get some run in against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday afternoon before games start counting for real on Friday when the Suns kick off the resumption of the regular season against the Washington Wizards.

Granted, without John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Davis Bertans, the game against the Wizards may be a warm-up game in its own right, but you can never take a win for granted in the NBA.

Baynes has exploded this year for the Phoenix Suns, averaging career highs in pretty much every major category, which at one point prompted a comparison to a Watchmen superhero. Adding him back into the fold will give the Suns a better chance to make some noise within the bubble.