By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Patty Mills is a officially Brooklyn Net. Some days after he led the Australian Boomers to their first Olympic medal, the former NBA champion was officially announced as a new Nets player by the club.
Per Nets:
The Brooklyn Nets have signed free agent guard Patty Mills. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.
Mills (5’10”, 180) has appeared in 739 career games (57 starts) across 12 NBA seasons with the San Antonio Spurs (2011-21) and Portland Trail Blazers (2009-11), recording averages of 8.9 points on 42.9 percent shooting from the floor, 38.8 percent from 3-point range and 85.8 percent from the free-throw line, along with 1.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 19.8 minutes per game. Most recently with the Spurs during the 2020-21 season, Mills appeared in 68 games (one start) and averaged 10.8 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 24.8 minutes per game, while knocking down a career-high 161 3-pointers, his fourth consecutive year burying 150 treys. Since he entered the league (2009-10), Mills ranks first in 3-pointers made off the bench (1,095) and third in points scored off the bench (5,919) and minutes played off the bench (13,007). His 1,095 threes made off the bench are the fourth-most in NBA history, trailing only Kyle Korver (1,385), Jamal Crawford (1,259) and Lou Williams (1,198). Mills has also been one of the most durable players in the NBA in recent years, missing just 12 regular season games over the last six seasons, while appearing in 80 or more games in a season five times in his career. The 32-year-old exits San Antonio ranking second on the Spurs’ all-time 3-pointers made list (1,220), trailing Manu Ginobili (1,495). A member of San Antonio’s 2014 NBA championship team, Mills has seen action in 90 career playoff games (11 starts), averaging 6.7 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 16.0 minutes per game.
A native of Canberra, Australia, Mills has been a member of the Australian National Team since 2007. At the Tokyo Olympics, Mills totaled 42 points and nine assists in Australia’s final game versus Slovenia, leading his country to a bronze medal, which represented the first medal in Australia’s Olympic men’s basketball history. Mills averaged 23.3 points per game, leading all scorers at the 2020 Olympics. He first played for the Boomers in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, becoming the youngest player in the history of Australia to compete in the Olympic Games in basketball.
Mills played two collegiate seasons (2007-09) for Saint Mary’s College of California, appearing in 58 total games (56 starts) and averaging 16.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.0 steals in 32.7 minutes per contest. He was named the WCC Newcomer of the Year as a freshman and earned All-WCC First Team honors in both his freshman and sophomore campaigns. After choosing to forgo his final two years of collegiate eligibility, Mills was drafted by Portland in the second round with the 55th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.