Patty Mills has written his name into the basketball history books as the first Australian to play 1000 NBA games.
The Boomers captain reached the milestone in Utah’s 105-92 defeat of Orlando on Monday (AEDT), having joined the Jazz to help mentor their young playing roster this season.
Mills had last played for the Jazz in early November but earned a recall with Jordan Clarkson, Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George and John Collins all ruled out ahead of the clash with the Magic.
The 36-year-old guard played 19 minutes from the bench for two rebounds and an assist in his 10th appearance for the Jazz since leaving the Miami Heat in the off-season.
The game came 15 years and one day after he played his first NBA game for the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2009/10 season.
Patty Mills. (Photo by Andrew Lahodynskyj/Getty Images)
With 902 regular season appearances and 98 play-offs to his name, Mills is one of 24 active NBA players to have reached 1000 games, joining elite company including LeBron James (1811), Kevin Durant (1254) and Steph Curry (1130).
He is comfortably ahead of the next-most prolific Australian in NBA history, Joe Ingles, who has made a total of 768 appearances.
The milestone continues what has been a storied basketball career for Mills.
He was taken with the 55th pick of the 2009 draft by the Blazers but has become most strongly associated with the San Antonio Spurs, with whom he played 10 seasons from 2011/12.
Mills won the 2014 NBA championship with the Spurs on a roster that included club legends Tim Duncan and Tony Parker as well as fellow Australian Aron Baynes.
He made it onto the floor in all five games of the triumphant series win over LeBron James’ Miami Heat, becoming the first Indigenous Australian to win an NBA championship ring.
He also holds the distinction of being the first man to captain Australia’s Boomers to an Olympic medal, putting up 42 points as Australia defeated Luka Doncic’s Slovenia to claim bronze at the 2021 Games.
Also in Tokyo, Mills became the first Indigenous Australian to carry the flag into an opening ceremony at the Olympics.
Mills carried his form into the NBA season that followed the Tokyo Games, breaking the Brooklyn Nets’ record for most three-pointers from the bench in a game (nine) during the 2021/22 season.
He started 48 games that campaign – far and away the most of any season – before returning to his remit as a bench role player in stints with Atlanta, Miami and Utah.
Mills was made a Member or the Order of Australia (AM) in 2022.
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