Patty Mills will play in the NBA restart, and the San Antonio guard said Wednesday that the reason why he’s decided to participate is so he can give just over $1 million of his salary to causes in his native Australia devoted to fighting racism.
The exact amount, Mills said, for the Spurs’ eight remaining regular-season, or seeding, games will be $1,017,818.54. He will split that money between three causes — Black Lives Matter Australia, another group that deals with the problem of Blacks dying when in custody, and to the newly formed We Got You campaign that he helped organize to address the issues of racism within Australian sport.
"So, 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.
Mills isn’t the only player that has announced he will be donating his salary for the eight games to charity. Los Angeles Lakers centre Dwight Howard revealed earlier this week that he will give the remainder of his salary for the season to a charitable initiative he started called Breathe Again, which was designed to fight hatred and racism.
Mills is the longest currently tenured player on the Spurs.
"He’s a guy that I think everybody looks to for motivation and stuff like that," Spurs teammate Trey Lyles said Wednesday, not long after Mills made his announcement. "I think along with his actions and his words backing up his actions … he’s definitely been somebody that I think not only the team but the league realizes is a community leader and somebody that’s always caring for other people."
This is not the first time Mills has tried to shine a light on race-related issues this season.
Mills — an Australian whose mother is Aboriginal and whose father is from the Torres Strait Islands — and the Spurs hosted a celebration of Indigenous people back in January, which he hoped helped educate people on the importance of recognizing the value of other cultures.
"Australia is a great country. America is a great country," Mills said. "We all have issues and different aspects. But the point of it is, is being able to come together to be able to work together."
The Spurs leave for the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida on Thursday, when they will be among the final eight arrivals of the 22 teams that will be participating in the NBA restart. The season has been halted by the coronavirus pandemic since March 11.
Mills was to have earned about $12.5 million this season, had the season not been interrupted and some games been cancelled because of the pandemic.
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