Patty Mills on basketball, community and his ambitions beyond the court

This is what keeps the NBA star inspired 

The star's sporting life and social advocacy endeavours increasingly overlap. Image: Tobias Rowles

The Indigenous NBA point guard is determined to help Australia bring home gold in the FIBA World Cup, but his ambitions stretch way beyond the basketball court.

Dressed in the green and gold of Australia, Patty Mills powers down the court to the three-point line, where he unleashes a jump shot with a snap of the wrist that propels the ball in a high arc towards the rim.

But the 35-year-old isn’t playing in an international fixture. He’s practicing on an empty court at Cairns’ ‘Fish Tank’ stadium before a stand that’s rapidly filling up with local kids.

The children didn’t expect to see their hero in action. They’ve come for the Queensland North region opening ceremony of Indigenous Basketball Australia (IBA), the national league that Mills and his wife Alyssa started up during lockdown.

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Mills has rushed straight from a Boomers practice session to make a presentation speech. But he’s made a conscious decision to keep his Australian colours on as he bounces the ball on the hardwood floor.

Mills wore the Boomers kit, he explains to Body+Soul the next day, in an effort to inspire the Indigenous youth in that Cairns stadium. He wanted to dangle a tantalising glimpse of what they, too, could possibly achieve.

“I was once a little kid watching Cathy Freeman light the torch in Sydney, and then win a gold medal,” he says. “And the way she carried herself and represented herself – Cathy Freeman became a role model for me, because she looked like me.”

The remark is characteristic of Mills’ ability to see the bigger picture. On the court, this 360-degree awareness translates into a game-changing knack of being able to read the play, anticipate challenges and predict the flight of the ball.

Mills’ says his hope is that basketball can become a vehicle to help empower Indigenous kids. Image: Tobias Rowles

It’s part of what’s made him such a successful international athlete – an NBA Champion in 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs and a bronze-medal winner at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. But his unique capacity to take a broader view of what’s going on around him doesn’t just make Mills a formidable sportsman. It’s also what makes him a tireless warrior for social change.

It’s 9am on a Monday morning and Mills is speaking over Zoom from Cairns. Wearing a Boomers T-shirt with his hair jutting out from beneath a green bandana, he’s still buzzing from last night’s IBA ceremony.

“That was a real pinch-yourself moment to see what we’ve been able to create in just three years,” he says. Yet beneath the excitement, Mills looks like a man with a lot on, a fact that’s hardly surprising given his recent schedule.

July was a busy month for the player, leaving the Brooklyn Nets after two years to join the Atlanta Hawks. Things have remained just as frenetic since he arrived back in Australia five days earlier.

Mills is here for the Boomers training camp in Cairns, as the squad prepare for the FIBA Basketball World Cup starting August 25. In true form, however, he’s making plenty of moves off-court, as well.

For starters, the IBA is a wildly ambitious program, a full-scale league operating in eight regions across Australia. The multi-million-dollar operation aims to bring basketball to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth who can’t easily access it.

Mills was moved to start it, in part, because of the glaring lack of Indigenous representation in the game. When he made his Boomers debut in 2006, it’d been almost 30 years since the last Aboriginal player – Mills’ uncle Danny Morseu – had made the national team.

He’s determined to ensure there’s a better showing by the time the Brisbane Olympics roll around in 2032, but he concedes his vision for the IBA is ultimately bigger than that. Mills’ real hope is that basketball can become a vehicle to help empower Indigenous kids with a sense of confidence and pride.

“We’re trying to create an environment where they feel like they can own and celebrate their identity,” he says.

The 35-year-old is proof you can be a professional athlete and an agent of social change. Image: Tobias Rowles

This isn’t Mills’ only extracurricular project – he’s moving in increasingly powerful circles. On the Thursday before we speak, he was at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane to watch the Matildas (where he bumped into PM Anthony Albanese, who couldn’t resist grabbing a quick selfie).

On the Friday, Mills spoke at the Gender Equality Symposium. Scheduled to coincide with the FIFA Women’s World Cup, he attended with Alyssa and mum Yvonne by his side. On the Saturday, more meetings to share his plans for the IBA as well as the Team Mills Foundation that he built to support women and underprivileged families, while promoting diversity and environmental change.

As the last few days indicate, his sporting life and social advocacy endeavours increasingly overlap. These are the two sides of Patty Mills.

The player boasts a long history of philanthropic activity. In 2020, for instance, when most players were using the NBA All-Star break to recuperate, Mills flew back to Australia to drive through southern NSW and donate supplies to country towns ravaged by the Black Summer bushfires.

That same year, he donated almost $1.5 million to other social justice causes close to his heart. There are plenty more examples, too – time and again, Mills has demonstrated his fervent belief in community action.

“Mate, that’s just the environment I grew up in,” he says, when asked what ignited this heightened social awareness. “That’s who I am, and that’s who my family is.”

Admittedly, such values make sense given Mills’ family background. Yvonne is an Aboriginal woman who was part of the stolen generation. His father Benny is a Torres Strait Islander whose uncle was Eddie Mabo, the famous Indigenous land rights activist.

Together, his parents worked in Indigenous affairs in Canberra where Patty grew up as a sports-obsessed kid, but one who was always cognisant of the social issues playing out beyond the basketball court due to the influence of his parents. “That awareness was ingrained in me,” he says. “It’s there from my mum and dad.”

That social recognition drives Mills’ unrelenting desire to make a difference. But rather than proving a distraction to his sporting life, he’s convinced it’s actually a prime source of motivation.

“Understanding that I’m part of a community is what inspires me to do better on the basketball court,” he insists. “That’s what keeps me going. When we see the true impact these efforts have on our people and our communities, that’s what fuels my inspiration to go to work on the court.”

This community-minded sensibility feeds into a broader sense of national pride. It’s rare to find someone so unapologetically patriotic, but Mills’ love for Australia is effusive.

“Sitting here in Cairns, I can look out right now and see the Great Barrier Reef – one of the seven natural wonders of the world,” he says. “No-one else has that, but we do.”

This appreciation for his homeland may have been intensified by distance – he moved to America 17 years ago to pursue his hoop dreams. But what’s also sustained that bond, believes Mills, is his appreciation of his cultural background, an aspect that’s personified through his family totems.

“When you’re on the other side of the world, your totem is something that keeps you connected and helps you remain strong in your identity and who you are,” he explains.

The totem that is particularly special to Mills is the green sea turtle that he describes as a “symbol of protection and strength” because of the way it travels vast distances across the ocean, but still carries its home with it in the form of its shell.

Having lived overseas since he was a teenager, the resonance for Mills is clear. It’s why a turtle tattoo is inked on his left forearm, and why the creature also pops up in the logos for the IBA and Team Mills Foundation.

This same totem also inspired the design for a brand-new venture: a shoe collab between Mills and sports apparel giant, Under Armour. Due for release on October 21, the basketball legend was instrumental in the creation of the UA FLOW FUTR X 3 PM.

“Under Armour were looking to do something really cool and different here,” says Mills. “When I mentioned my family totems, they were like, ‘Oh yeah, tell us more.’”

In addition to new technology, the kicks – which will be released globally – feature an aquatic pattern in a nod to the turtle’s environment and yet another of Mills’ charitable initiatives – his work with US renewable water company, Source, to ensure a clean supply for vulnerable indigenous communities in Australia and Hawaii.

Yet Mills’ national pride is most obviously expressed when he pulls on the Boomers jersey. Many of the NBA’s superstars – LeBron James, Nikola Jokic et al – have opted not to play in the World Cup. But Mills insists he’d never pass up the opportunity.

“Playing for Australia is so important to me,” he says. “That’s where you get to represent your country and your people. The feeling that we have putting on the green and gold, of being a Boomer and experiencing the connection to this country, connection to this land, that is so, so special. Mate, there’s nothing like it in the entire world.”

That depth of feeling translates into Mills’ astonishing consistency for the national team – in the crunch play-off match against Slovenia in the Tokyo Olympics, he scored 42 points alone. But despite having already represented Australia in four Olympics and four FIBA Oceania Championships, his hunger for success is still razor sharp.

“These next two years will be massive for us,” insists Mills. “Winning a World Cup title is something that I’m very motivated for. And then there’s the Paris Olympics next year.”

Mills’ commitment to the cause was also made clear from the famous image that circulated after Australia finally won bronze in Tokyo. In the picture, Mills is enveloped in a sweaty embrace with Joe Ingles, the fellow veteran he’s played alongside for so long.

“It’s an emotional photo for me to look at and even think about now,” admits Mills. “It’s a powerful moment, because it’s me and Joe, and yes, we do have different backgrounds. But we grew up together. We’ve been through a lot together. And together we finally achieved something that an Australian men’s team never had before.”

He then shares another powerful moment, recalling the “tremendous honour” of being the first Indigenous Australian flag bearer at the Tokyo Olympics, describing it as “insanely” meaningful.

“That was just such a prestigious, prestigious moment for me,” says Mills. “I was so proud to represent my country and represent my people.”

Yet he highlights what made the experience even more special was carrying the flag alongside swimmer Cate Campbell: “To be a female and male, both together doing it, was pretty cool.”

This conviction in sport’s ability to break down barriers is what’s forged Mills’ belief that you can be a professional athlete and an agent of social change.

The two roles are not exclusive, he argues, because of the unifying potential of sport. He experienced that reality again a few days earlier, when he was left awestruck by the Matildas game in Brisbane.

“Seeing the atmosphere at Suncorp, feeling the girls’ pride in representation, watching the crowd, how the game can bring people together from all walks of life…” Mills’ face lights up through his fatigue and he grins. “That’s the power of sport.”

Originally published as Patty Mills on basketball, community and his ambitions beyond the court