Patty Mills posing with Australian, Torres Strait Islands and Australian Indigenous flags
Patty Mills has been making Australians proud since he picked up a basketball. No-one seems to embody the traits of being both a talented athlete and a revered public icon who is loved by everyone. He’s been a beacon of hope to the indigenous community. He stood up and made his voice heard during the BLM movement. And now he’s a finalist for the prestigious Australian of The Year honour. The Canberra-born NBA champion transcends basketball and revolutionized the way we think about Australian sports heroes.
If you’ve ever watched Patty Mills, the first thing that catches your eye is his chest thump. It’s already playing out in your head right now.
Hopping around at halfcourt gracefully moving toward his defensive end. Banging his fist across his heart. Grimacing, clutching his jaw tight, his face frozen in a scowl. The chest thump usually comes at a time when he’s hit a clutch three from the top of the arc, or when he darts and weaves his way through the key for an aggressive drive at the rim. It comes at a time when the game is on the line and he’s starting to unleash. What’s clear: Mills feels every part of basketball and his gladiator-like expressions let us peer into soul.
The 33-year-old has had a lot to celebrate in the last 12 months. What reads like a bucket list of distinctions and intimate triumphs, Mills became the first Indigenous Australian to be appointed Australia’s flag bearer at the Tokyo Olympics in July. He led the Boomers to an historic Bronze medal, dropping 42 points against Slovenia in the deciding game. He was recognized with the Don Award – Australia’s highest sports accolade. And, he’s having a career year with the Brooklyn Nets, averaging 13.2 points per game in 30.8 minutes, and is one of the key cogs playing alongside basketball royalty in Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, working towards another NBA Championship.
Add this to this rich list of achievements: next week Mills is one of five finalists for Australian Of The Year. It would be a fitting kudos for a person that sees himself as more a humanitarian than basketball player, but is equally adept at both. In Mills, Australia has a loved and respected figure and what he stands for transcends basketball. It inspires minorities. It appeals to the masses. He’s revolutionized the way we think about Australian sports heroes.
“It’s beyond sport,” Mills said of the Don Award when he was presented with it in December. “This is about unity and the impact I think that this can have on the rest of the country. They can see it as evidence [of] something that can be achievable and they can start dreaming.”
Everyone loves Patty Mills. We’ve all got up early to watch him play on TV either in the NBA or on the global circuit. We’ve all screamed “yes! Patty!” when he comes up clutch in big games. We’ve all given him our own nicknames like “Patty Thrills” and tried to emulate him by thumping our own chests when we win. Andrew Gaze once said “he’s not out there on an ego trip. He plays a role and that’s why he survives. His ability is to make those around him better.” What we see in him others do too.
During the early anxiety-inducing stages of the pandemic, in July 2020, Mills generously comped $1.5 million toward campaigns and groups in need, including Black Lives Matter Australia, Black Deaths in Custody and We Got You, a movement dedicated to ending racism in Australian sport. This wasn’t just pandemic-motivated. Mills has long toiled for social reforms like clean water access in Australia and he’s also founded an Indigenous youth hoops league, inspiring the next generation of basketballers. When he’s not putting in work on the court, he’s working for the community.
Amid the lockdowns and social distancing he became a voice for the voiceless and a beacon of hope – something he developed when he joined the Spurs in 2012. In San Antonio he dressed up in a Santa suit as part of the Elf Louise Project and delivered gifts to underprivileged youth. So it’s easy to understand, when the Black Lives Matter protests rang out after the death of George Floyd, why Mills used his NBA status and platform to fire back at Prime Minister Scott Morrison who claimed there was no slavery in Australia. It’s in his DNA. He took to Twitter:
“Leaders of Australia – We can do better,” he wrote. “We can learn from what’s happening in the United States and apply to the actions taken regarding ‘black deaths in custody’ in Australia. This behaviour has already existed in our own backyard for decades.”
Long Island Nets head coach and Boomers assistant coach, Adam Caporn, told the New York Post last year that Mills has evolved into someone that anyone could be inspired by.
“What sticks out to me most is what he means to people across all levels of society, sport, community, families, young people. He’s an outstanding human, citizen, competitor,” he told the Post. “It was great to be a part of the team with him, feel his leadership and his charisma and his friendship. And we’re just a really lucky country to have a role model like that to look up to.”
Mills is one man in two bodies that is defined by on-court and off-court. This year he’s showing the NBA fraternity exactly what he can do when given the freedom to do it. After beating the Thunder by 24 in November, a night where Mills hit nine-of-12 from long range and accumulated 29 points, Brooklyn Nets teammate James Harden said “Patty’s a vet. He’s been through a lot. He knows how to get himself up.”
Then there was the Christmas Day game where Mills exploded again for 34 points with eight triples at 61.5 percent that helped sink the Lakers 118-115. Mills was also clutch in the win against the Sixers in October, when he drained a series of shots late to help secure the five point victory.
“It could be [my best stretch] maybe in the NBA,” Mills told the media recently. “I think production-wise, playing for my country is probably where I tend to play the best as well. A lot of factors go into that I think. But like I said, I’m just having a lot of fun playing with this team and playing with these guys and that’s definitely coming into play as well. So, yeah, possibly.”
This year with the Nets, Mills is shaping up to be one of the steals of the 2021-22 season. He’s helping the Nets get wins, he’s filling the void left by pandemic protocols and Kyrie Irving and we’re seeing career numbers materialize. He’s ranked fourth in the NBA for triples (131) averaging 3.2 per game. Only Steph Curry (192), Buddy Hield (160) and Fred Vanvleet (143) are doing it better. And he’s played 41 games, the most of any Brooklyn player. Brooklyn Nets head coach has been more impressed with what Mills has brought to the locker room.
“Patty’s added so much to our team,” Steve Nash said in December. “So many nights this year, whether it’s scoring, whether it’s just mature IQ, experience, those things you see on the floor, but it’s just the way he approaches the game: his spirit, his mentality,” he told the media. “He’s added so much to our group, our culture, just by the person he is, by how pure his motives are and how much he wants to win as a group and for his teammates. He’s been unbelievable, not just on the floor, but off the floor as well.”
To fully appreciate Mills you have to recognize the enduring talent he is. Quite simply: he’s the best Australia has seen. He’s played 779 NBA games – the most of any Australian – and has survived 13 seasons in a cut throat industry where role players are shipped around like expendable cargo. Other Australians have had greater success. Luc Longley won three rings with the Chicago Bulls. Andrew Bogut was a number one pick that won a Championship with the Golden State Warriors.
Mills has won a Championship chip too. But his longevity and role-playing ethos has made him ever-so malleable that he’s been able to fit into any kind of role on offer. He’s built a career showing us what you can achieve grinding away within miniscule margins and lifting those around him up.
When Mills led the Boomers to their historic Bronze medal, he kept referring to the sentiment “staying in the trenches together.” In other words: the only way forward was doing it together. In the 17-point win against Nigeria he led by example and executed precision perimeter shooting (five-from-eight) and finished with 25 points. This unlocked confidence in his teammates. Jock Landale dished up an 18-point, seven rebound night in the 86-83 win over Italy. Nick Kay had an efficient 16-point game (seven-from-10) in the win over Germany. In the 38-point win over Argentina in the quarterfinal, five players scored more than 10-points.
This also offers contrasting views of Mills: on one hand he’s oddly underrated in the NBA, and on the other, he’s wildly cherished for his aggressive attack at the rim and long-range shooting as a Boomers leader.
“Where we’ve been able to build our Boomers culture is understanding the lay of the land that goes far beyond basketball and for us that’s always giving back, being able to understand where we come from, where we see the future, living in the present and who we represent,” Mills told the media. “It’s our culture at the end of the day, our Australian culture, Aussie spirit.”
It doesn’t matter if Mills doesn’t win Australian of The Year. He’s already an Australian symbol that is treasured, someone who is our moral compass and conscience on social justice issues. He’s the standard of who we should be – someone who believes in himself and doing what he can to make things right. He remains the pinnacle of what makes an Australian athlete great.
In Tokyo, Mills accepted his Bronze medal around his neck on the same floor the Boomers beat Slovenia on. It was a dream realized. Mills called it his most proudest moment of his sporting career. There will come a time when we won’t see Mills in a green and gold Boomers singlet or buzzing around the NBA. But it’s worth taking stock now to celebrate him as an athlete, as an Australian, and humanitarian and to savour his journey all of us have taken with him.
When the final buzzer went in the fourth quarter against Slovenia, Mills is seen thumping his chest, smiling uncontrollably, clutching his teammates and pumping his fist in the air full of joy, much like how we’ve been watching him for the last 15 years.
