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They were teammates for seven seasons and won an NBA championship together in 2014. Now Patty Mills and Kawhi Leonard are together with the Clippers . Mills arrived here Saturday via trade from the Utah Jazz along with forward Drew Eubanks in exchange for Mo Bamba, P.
J. Tucker, a 2030 second-round draft pick and cash considerations. Like he did when he and Leonard were members of the San Antonio Spurs’ championship team, Mills said he comes with a “purpose” of fulfilling whatever role is required of him by the Clippers and to do his part to help them win their first title.
The 36-year-old guard feels fortunate to be playing with Leonard in that quest. “Yeah, a couple of young bucks back in the day, winning an NBA championship, and obviously being able to witness his growth firsthand was really cool,” Mills said Tuesday at the Clippers’ shootaround ahead of their game against the Lakers at the Intuit Dome. “Yeah, it was something that you achieved in your life that kind of bonds you together and you have that forever.
So, very grateful for my time spent with him. Close bond with him in San Antonio and obviously close since then. So, to be able to reunite, I guess, a decade later on a quest for the same sort of thing is very exciting.
” Mills and Eubanks joined a Clippers team that entered Tuesday sixth in the competitive Western Conference. That’s far from the Jazz team that has the second-worse record in the NBA and is in line for a high lottery pick. With the Clippers in need of a big man to allow center Ivica Zubac to get some rest, the 6-foot-10 Eubanks hopes to fill that void.
He averaged 5.8 points and 4.5 rebounds with the Jazz this season.
“Athletic, get out and run the floor, be a lob threat, protect the rim,” Eubanks said about what he expects his role to be. “Get guys like James [Harden] and Kawhi and Norm [Powell], those guys open for threes or get going downhill. Finish around the rim, be a physical presence for them.
I know Zu plays a lot of minutes, so just filling in the gaps when he’s not out there.” Mills has spent 16 years in the NBA, a 6-foot-2 point guard who has carved out a successful career against the odds. He averaged 4.
4 points in just 17 games with the Jazz this season. But over the course of his career, he‘s averaged 8.8 points and shot 38.
5% from three-point range. “It’s back to, again, the purpose,” Mills said. “The purpose of playing basketball.
The purpose of competing and competing to win and doing your part. So this is definitely familiar territory on the quest of something greater. And it’s fun.
It’s fun when you find a group and you find guys that are willing to do their part to win a championship, it’s very cool. So hopefully I can bring that here.” Mills led his native Australia to its first Olympic men’s basketball medal at the 2020 Games, and he wanted to remind his new fan base where he’s from.
“This is the part I think I really enjoy because of maybe how I look or how I’m perceived by people over here [in America] — I’m Indigenous Australian,” Mills said. “And that’s something that I take a lot of pride in ..
. being Indigenous Australian is something that I am really proud of and I’m still strong in my identity, even having 16 years in the NBA. “I think I’m someone that is a minority on the other side of the world and other countries are able to look up to and hopefully be inspired from.
So, I enjoy that role. I think it’s a part of me and I hope to inspire all those people that hopefully make their dreams come true as well.”.
