Triple Olympian, Tokyo bronze medallist and NBA champion Aron Baynes has announced his retirement from professional basketball.

While Baynes had told ESPN in September that he was still open to continuing his career, the 37-year-old officially called time on his career on Thursday morning.

His agent Daniel Moldovan announced the news, writing on social media: “You embody everything that we preach to young athletes about professionalism, dedication and playing for the name on the front of the jersey, not on the back”.

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It brings an end to an accomplished career for Baynes, who played college basketball at Washington State University, helping the Cougars to back-to-back NCAA Tournament Appearances in 2007 and 2008.

He then went overseas, playing in Lithuania, Germany, Greece and Slovenia before earning his first shot in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs in 2013.

By the end of Baynes’ first full season in the league he was already an NBA champion, playing alongside fellow countryman Patty Mills in the 4-1 Finals win over the Miami Heat.

Baynes went on to play for four more NBA teams (Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors) in a career that spanned 576 games before returning home to be a valuable veteran presence on the Brisbane Bullets.

Bullets Next Star Rocco Zikarsky spoke to foxsports.com.au in the pre-season about how Baynes mentored him in his first season in the NBL, declaring Baynes would “arguably” have a place on his “Mount Rushmore of Australian NBA big men”.

“I watched him in the Olympics and whatnot but what really stood out to me was that moment,” Zikarsky said, recalling that day he walked out of class in 2020 and whipped out his phone to check the latest scores in the NBA.

“Because it was just at the time I was really getting into basketball and then I was like, ‘Oh my God, an Australian big man has just done that. It’s unheard of’.”

Baynes also established himself as a key part of the Australian national team set-up, competing at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.

He also represented the Boomers in 2010, 2014 and 2019 at the FIBA World Cup.