Spurs guard Patty Mills has a good reason to participate in the NBA’s restart in Orlando, Florida later this month.
It goes beyond simply the team’s push for a 23rd consecutive playoff bid.
Mills announced Wednesday that he plans to donate “every cent” of his salary earned in the eight games scheduled on the Disney World campus to social justice causes in his native Australia.
That total works out to $1,017,818.54.
“I’m playing in Orlando because I don’t want to leave any money on the table that could be going directly to Black communities,” Mills said in a video conference with reporters.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police in May and the ensuing nationwide protests, the social justice issue has emerged as a critical component of the NBA’s planned reboot.
Mills, 31, has been an outspoken advocate for equal rights, especially in Australia. With roots traced to the Torres Strait Islands in his home country, Mills is one of two indigenous Australians to have played in an NBA game.
His great uncle is Eddie Mabo, whose work toward indigenous rights in the 1970s and 1980s have caused some to liken him to the Martin Luther King of Australia.
Mills said he will donate his salary from the Orlando games to three organizations in his homeland: Black Lives Matter Australia, Black Deaths in Custody and the “We Got You” campaign, which works to end racism in sports in Australia.
“For the first time in my career, I have white people — teammates, old teammates old coaches — telling me they never knew the level of racism in sport, especially in Australia,” Mills said. “They haven’t felt comfortable asking me, as a black Australian, about racism before. Which speaks to the impact and value of the Black Lives Matter movement and the millions who have participated in protests around the world.”
The Spurs are due to leave Thursday morning for Orlando. After a two-day mandatory quarantine, the team is scheduled to hold its first full-squad practice since March on Saturday.
Their first game is slated July 31 against Sacramento.
Mills acknowledged the still-present threat posed by the COVID-19 virus and skyrocketing cases in Orlando gave him pause about deciding to participate in the NBA resumption.
“It was not an easy decision to make,” he said.
Ultimately, Mills said his role as a team leader and the responsibility to be there for teammates in the midst of an unconventional playoff push might have been enough to get him to central Florida regardless.
With the idea to tie the NBA’s reboot to a social justice campaign, the decision became something of a no-brainer.
The league has allowed players to opt out of the restart without considering it a breach of contract. Players who refuse to participate, however, are docked for the games they choose to miss.
Mills has decided to play in order to pay his salary forward to organizations he believes could use the help. He is grateful for the platform he hopes the NBA’s Orlando restart will provide.
“I have been open to be able to have these conversations — in the locker room, on the bus, on the plane, wherever,” Mills said. “I am locked and loaded and ready to go.”
Having come to the United States in 2007 to play at St. Mary’s College in California, Mills said he can relate to African-Americans and Native Americans in this country.
When those in the U.S. mourn and march over the deaths of Floyd and other minorities killed by law enforcement, Mills remembers Kumanjayi Walker and Joyce Clark.
Walker was a 19-year-old killed by an Australian police officer in November 2019. Joyce Clark was a 29-year-old woman shot by police in Western Australia in September.
“I draw the correct parallels to how Australia is and how my family has been treated for so long and how I have been treated for so long,” Mills said. “Australia is a great country. America is a great country. We all have issues in different aspects. But the point of it is being able to come together, being able to work together, to be able to make an impact in a positive way.”
That is the genesis of the “We Got You” campaign, a nascent movement of Australian athletes aiming to stamp out racism in sports.
The key component, Mills said, is for white people to not only join with minorities to address issues of social justice, but to lead the way as the majority.
“It shouldn’t be up to (minority groups) to stand up for themselves and fight,” Mills said. “I believe that should come from the majority. If you believe and you are passionate about that fight and that cause, stand in the front lines. Like put your arm around them as say, ‘We as the majority, we got you.’ ”
Over the course of his nine seasons in San Antonio, Mills has become the social conscience of the Spurs’ locker room.
His voice has only grown with time.
“He’s a guy I think everyone looks to for motivation and stuff like that,” forward Trey Lyles said. “His actions back up his words.”
Once on the ground in Orlando, Mills will continue his purpose in both word and deed.
And he will put his money where his mouth is.
“I’m looking forward to Orlando as an opportunity to be able to launch my mission of race and social justice,” Mills said. “I’m very eager, just like I am on the court, to be able to rise to the occasion and make a direct impact.”
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN
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