Patty Mills

Patrick Sammy Mills was born in Canberra, Australia, to Benny and Yvonne Mills. His father is a Torres Strait Islander and his mother is an Aboriginal Australian (Ynunga). Mills' introduction to basketball came as a four-year-old playing for a local Indigenous club established by his parents. He later served as a ball boy for the Canberra Cannons of the National Basketball League. In addition to basketball, Mills also played underage Australian rules football and received an offer to play in the Australian Football League. However, he turned down the invitation in order to focus on basketball. Mills won a number of accolades as a youth player. He received the RE Staunton Medal at the U20 Nationals in Perth in 2006. He was also named the 2006 SEABL U/21 Australian Youth Player of the Year. In July of the same year, Mills was named the Junior Male Player of the Year at Basketball Australia's annual Junior Basketball Awards. In addition, he was dubbed the "most promising new sports talent" at the 2006 Deadlys Awards. Finally, Mills was named the 2006 Australia Basketball Player of the Year and the National Sportsperson of the Year by the NAIDOC. Since joining the NBA, Mills has maintained a tight connection to his home country. In 2011, he started the charity project Assist Australia to aid in Queensland's recovery from a series of floods in 2010 and 2011. In 2020, he partnered with fellow Australian NBA players, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association Foundation to donate funds in order to combat Australia's deadly bushfires. Mills also traveled to Australia during the NBA All-Star break to donate supplies and money in support of recovery efforts in the wake of the bushfires. Learn more about Mills by following him on Twitter (@Patty_Mills) and on Instagram (@balapat). Mills was second in the West Coast Conference in field-goal attempts (405), three-point field-goal attempts (198) and steals (57) in the 2008-09 season. The Canberra, Australia native was also fourth in the WCC in field-goal percentage (42.9) in his freshman year, while ranking second in three-point field goals (67) as a sophomore. Additionally, Mills led St. Mary's in points (18.4), steals (2.2) and assists (3.9) per game during his final year with the team. In his freshman year, he helped lead St. Mary's to the NCAA Tournament. Mills declared for the 2009 NBA Draft after his sophomore season at St. Mary's. He was selected in the second round (55th overall) of the draft by the Portland Trail Blazers.