Patty Mills

Patrick Sammie Mills AM (born 11 August 1988) is an Australian professional basketball player for La Laguna Tenerife of the Liga ACB and the Basketball Champions League (BCL). He is the general manager of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball program at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Mills was born and raised in Canberra, and is of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal Australian (Kokatha and Dauareb-Meriam) descent. In 2007, he became the third Indigenous basketball player to play for the Australian national team. 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.

Mills played for the Portland Trail Blazers for two seasons. In 2011, during the NBA lockout, he played for the Melbourne Tigers of the National Basketball League (NBL) and for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in China. Mills returned to the United States in March 2012 and signed with the San Antonio Spurs. He became a strong contributor off the bench and helped the Spurs win the 2014 NBA championship. In 2021 he led the Australian Boomers to their first-ever Olympic medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. While with the Boomers, he is often referred to as "FIBA Patty" for his high level performances in the Olympics where he is the 5th highest scorer in Olympic basketball history. Mills is well known for his three-point shooting and his leadership qualities.

Mills was born in the Australian capital city of Canberra. Mills' father, Benny, is a Torres Strait Islander (Muralag) and his mother, Yvonne, is Aboriginal Australian (Kokatha), the daughter of a white man and an Aboriginal woman. As part of the Stolen Generations, she and her four siblings were taken from their parents by the Australian state after her parents' separation in 1949. Mills has said that learning of his mother's past was a "turning point" in his understanding of his identity as Indigenous Australian.

Mills' uncle is former Olympian basketballer Danny Morseu, the second Indigenous Australian to represent Australia at the Olympics in basketball; Mills would be the third, thirty years later. He is the cousin of rugby league player Edrick Lee, and fellow basketball player Nathan Jawai. Mills' great-uncle is Indigenous land rights activist Eddie Mabo.

Mills first took up basketball as a four-year-old for a local Indigenous club his parents established called "The Shadows". Growing up, he was the ball boy for the Canberra Cannons of the National Basketball League (NBL). Mills' future coach at Saint Mary's College of California, David Patrick, played for the Cannons during that time and developed a relationship with the Mills family.

In addition to playing basketball, Mills also played underage Australian rules football at a high level. He had an opportunity to pursue a career in the Australian Football League (AFL), but decided to concentrate on basketball instead. In 2005, he made a strong impression at the Australian Olympic Youth Festival, an event considered to be a showcase for future elite sporting talents.

Mills attended Canberra's Marist College, but left at the end of 2004 to attend the Australian Institute of Sport and Lake Ginninderra College. During Mills time at Lake Ginninderra he got challenged for a 1v1 basketball match by fellow class mate Ramez who Mills ended up dunking him.

In January 2006, Mills was awarded the prestigious RE Staunton Medal at the U20 Nationals in Perth. As a member of the 2006 Junior National Men's Team, Mills helped Australia defeat New Zealand and qualify for the 2007 Junior Men's World Championships. In April, Mills was a member of the World Junior Select Team that competed against the United States in the Nike Hoop Summit. Mills was named the 2006 SEABL U/21 Australian Youth Player of the Year, averaging 18.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game and helping the AIS to a 16–10 regular season record. He finished the season third in assists in the SEABL, averaging 4.37 per game.