Australian Aron Baynes won't be on court with the Phoenix Suns when the NBA resumes next week after confirming he tested positive for the coronavirus and was "put on my butt for a week" as a result.
Baynes has remained in Phoenix while his Suns teammates are inside the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida, ahead of the season restart and run to the playoffs.
Talking to The Athletic, Baynes said he first tested positive for COVID-19 a "while back" and was only just starting to feel better. But he is still testing positive for the virus despite the presence of antibodies within his immune system. His family is, however, thankfully testing negative after also contracting the virus.
Baynes revealed he had found it difficult to get out of bed and stay awake while affected by the virus.
"I was lucky it didn't get beyond that," Baynes told The Athletic. "My family is testing negative, but I'm still not. I have antibodies, so I'm not contagious, but I need those negative tests because that's the criteria the NBA set up.
"I really didn't want to get my family sick. The lack of being able to get out of bed and stay awake. That hit me pretty hard. It's been a long time since I felt good. I think this morning was the first time where I felt like this is how I usually feel after doing that volume of work."
The Suns are in the hunt for eighth spot in the Western Conference, a task that will be made easier if the Australian can rejoin his teammates over the coming days or weeks. But he needs two consecutive negative tests before he is able to enter the NBA bubble in Orlando.
"I got my first high-level intensity workout [today]. I was doing sprints up and down the front of our house with the kids sitting in the window watching me run up and down," Baynes said. "It's funny to me that that's where I'm at right now. I'm thankful I'm able to be doing that, but I never thought I would be getting ready for the season by running up and down my front yard."
Baynes had been self-isolating, only for his family to catch the virus via an external source.
"That was the scariest moment for me because I was putting my family at risk." Baynes told The Athletic. "They were exposed to it at a later point, so they didn't get it at the same time as me, but they were also positive at a later point. We are not sure exactly because of the delays in testing.
"The biggest positive to come out of it is that I was the worst affected. They all had very minimal symptoms where it actually put me on my butt for a full week. I slept for four days straight. There was one point where I didn't see back-to-back hours until four days of being in bed asleep."