63 Facts About Patty Mills

Patrick Sammie Mills was born on 11 August 1988 and is an Australian professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association.

Patty Mills was born and raised in Canberra, and is of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal Australian descent.

Patty Mills was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 55th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft after playing two years of college basketball for the Saint Mary's Gaels.

Patty Mills played for the Portland Trail Blazers for two seasons.

Patty Mills returned to the United States in March 2012 and signed with the San Antonio Spurs.

Patty Mills became a strong contributor off the bench and helped the Spurs win the 2014 NBA championship.

Patty Mills is well known for his three-point shooting and his leadership qualities.

Patty Mills was born in the Australian capital city of Canberra.

Patty Mills' father, Benny, is a Torres Strait Islander and his mother, Yvonne, is Aboriginal Australian, the daughter of a white man and an Aboriginal woman.

Patty Mills has said that learning of his mother's past was a "turning point" in his understanding of his identity as Indigenous Australian.

Patty Mills' uncle is former Olympian basketballer Danny Morseu, the second Indigenous Australian to represent Australia at the Olympics in basketball; Patty Mills would be the third, thirty years later.

Patty Mills is the cousin of rugby league players Edrick Lee, Brenko Lee and fellow basketball player Nathan Jawai.

Patty Mills first took up basketball as a four-year-old for a local Indigenous club his parents established called "The Shadows".

Patty Mills had an opportunity to pursue a career in the Australian Football League, but decided to concentrate on basketball instead.

Patty Mills attended Canberra's Marist College, but left at the end of 2004 to attend the Australian Institute of Sport and Lake Ginninderra College.

In January 2006, Patty Mills was awarded the prestigious RE Staunton Medal at the U20 Nationals in Perth.

Patty Mills finished the season third in assists in the SEABL, averaging 4.37 per game.

Also in 2006, Patty Mills was the youngest athlete selected in the 22-man extended Australian Boomers squad ahead of the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

Patty Mills was named the "most promising new sports talent" at the 2006 Deadlys Awards.

Patty Mills started all 32 games for the Gaels as a freshman, posting a team-high 14.8 points, 2.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals in 32.1 minutes.

Patty Mills set a Saint Mary's freshman record for points in a season with 472, and set the school freshman mark for points in a game with a 37-point performance against Oregon on 20 November 2007.

Patty Mills was a three-time WCC Player of the Week honouree.

Patty Mills was named All-WCC First Team for a second straight year.

On 25 June 2009, Patty Mills was selected with the 55th overall pick by the Portland Trail Blazers, becoming the first Saint Mary's player since 1983 to be drafted, and was the highest pick since 1961.

On 4 January 2010, Patty Mills was called up to the NBA by the Trail Blazers.

Patty Mills appeared in 10 games with the Trail Blazers during his rookie season, averaging 2.6 points in 3.8 minutes.

Patty Mills appeared in three playoff games for the Trail Blazers.

Patty Mills appeared in two playoff games for the Trail Blazers.

On 4 January 2012, Patty Mills was released by Xinjiang after being out for 10 days with a hamstring injury.

Reports later surfaced that Patty Mills was sacked by Xinjiang for allegedly faking the hamstring injury; Patty Mills denied the allegation that his hamstring injury was faked.

On 27 March 2012, Patty Mills signed with the San Antonio Spurs.

Patty Mills posted the highest single-game score by an Australian in the NBA, surpassing Andrew Bogut's 32 points in January 2010.

Patty Mills missed the final four games of the NBA Finals with an abscess removal on his right foot.

Patty Mills appeared in a team-high 81 games, including two starts, averaging 10.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists in a career-high 18.9 minutes.

Patty Mills helped the Spurs return to the NBA Finals in 2014, where they again faced the Miami Heat.

On 4 August 2017, Patty Mills re-signed with the Spurs on a four-year, $50 million contract.

On 25 February 2018 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Patty Mills climbed into fourth place on the Spurs' list of all-time three-pointers made.

In March 2019, Patty Mills became the only Spurs player to make more than 120 three-pointers in five different seasons.

On 19 January 2020, Patty Mills made his 1,000th NBA three-pointer.

Patty Mills is the first Australian player in NBA history to reach that milestone.

On 18 January 2021, Patty Mills set an NBA record for most three-point shots made for one team as a reserve.

On 10 August 2021, Patty Mills signed with the Brooklyn Nets.

On 10 July 2022, Patty Mills re-signed with the Nets on a two-year, $14.5 million contract.

On 5 September 2024, Patty Mills signed with the Utah Jazz.

On 1 February 2025, Mills was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers alongside Drew Eubanks in exchange for Mo Bamba, P J Tucker, a 2030 second-round pick and cash considerations.

In 2007, Patty Mills made his senior national team debut for the Boomers at the FIBA Oceania Championship.

Patty Mills became the third Indigenous basketball player to play for Australia behind Olympians Michael Ah Matt and Danny Morseu.

Patty Mills went on to play for Australia at the 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship, before representing his country at the 2012 London Olympics.

At the 2012 Olympics, Patty Mills had the highest scoring average with 21.2 points per game, ahead of Kevin Durant of the United States, who averaged 19.5 points per game.

In 2013, Patty Mills played for Australia at the FIBA Oceania Championship.

Patty Mills became the first Indigenous Australian to be a flag bearer when he carried the Australian flag alongside swimmer Cate Campbell at the opening ceremony for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Patty Mills's performance earned him honours as the shooting guard in the Tokyo 2020 All Star Five for the men's Olympics basketball tournament.

Patty Mills represented Australia in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Patty Mills finished the tournament as Australia's second-leading scorer just behind Josh Giddey, scoring 66 points to bring his career total to 567.

Patty Mills is known for his three-point shooting, his commitment to the team culture of the San Antonio Spurs and the Boomers, his enthusiasm, and his leadership qualities.

Patty Mills met long-time girlfriend Alyssa Patty Mills, who was a college basketball player, while they were both attending Saint Mary's College of California.

In July 2014, Patty Mills was presented with the keys to the city in Canberra in the wake of the Spurs' championship success.

Patty Mills is an ardent rugby league fan, supporting the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League, as well as the Queensland Maroons in the annual State of Origin series.

Patty Mills is a supporter of the Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League.

In 2011, Patty Mills started the charity project "Assist Australia" following Queensland's floods in March 2010 and in December 2010 to January 2011.

Patty Mills has used his platform and resources to fight racism and police brutality, especially in his home country of Australia.

In 2020, Patty Mills helped launch "We Got You", a campaign to show support for athletes as they fight racism in Australian sport.

Patty Mills gave about $1 million to Black Lives Matter Australia and Black Deaths in Custody.