16
May
Spanish League
'FIBA Patty' Mills still torching nets in Europe at 37
La Laguna Tenerife guard Patty Mills looks on during the Basketball Champions League Final Four third-place game against Unicaja Malaga at Palau Olimpic Badalona in Barcelona, Spain, on May 9, 2026. Photo: Javier Borrego/Europa Press via Getty Images
Highlights
Patty Mills is still lighting up Europe at 37 with elite three-point shooting and scoring bursts.
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There’s plenty of life left in the 37-year-old legs of “FIBA Patty” Mills.
The NBA champion and 16-year NBA veteran is putting on a shooting clinic for La Laguna Tenerife in the Spanish League and Basketball Champions League this season.
In his first 13 games in the two European competitions, Mills has averaged:
- 15.5 points
- 1.7 assists
- 0.8 rebounds
- 20.0 minutes
- 45.3% FG
- 42.4% from three
- 85.0% FT
- 11.0 efficiency
Where his shots are coming from:
Mills attempted:
- 91 three-pointers
- 65 two-pointers
That means 58.3% of his total shot attempts came from beyond the arc, reinforcing how heavily he operated as an off-ball spacer and scoring guard.
He’s made:
- 38 threes
- 29 twos
So 56.7% of his made field goals were three-pointers.
He’s scored:
- 24 points vs Unicaja Malaga
- 23 points vs UCAM Murcia
- 23 points vs Unicaja Malaga (BCL)
- 20 points vs Galatasaray
- 18 points at Real Madrid
All while never playing more than 28 minutes.
Three-Point Shooting Trends
Mills had six games with at least four made threes:
- 7-from-13 vs UCAM Murcia
- 5-from-9 vs Unicaja Malaga
- 4-from-6 vs Unicaja Malaga
- 4-from-9 vs Zaragoza
- 3-from-8 vs Real Madrid
- 3-from-7 vs Gran Canaria
Defensive Activity
He’s also been active on the defensive side of the ball:
- Multiple steals in five games
- Two steals against Gran Canaria
- Two steals against Rytas Vilnius
- Two steals against Trieste
Best Overall Performance – Apr 1 vs Galatasaray (BCL)
- 20 points
- 2 rebounds
- 2 assists
- 7-from-11 FG
- 2-from-3 from three
- 4-from-4 FT
- 20 efficiency
But the most damaging scoring performance was arguably:
Apr 25 at UCAM Murcia
- 23 points
- 7-from-13 from three
- 50% FG
Mills played his last NBA game for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2024-25 season and was an unsigned free agent during the 2025-26 season. He spent most of his time in Honolulu as the general manager of the University of Hawai’i NCAA men’s basketball team, and working out.
He spent 10 years in San Antonio under head coach Gregg Popovich, winning his only championship with the Spurs in 2014.
Mills earned almost AUD $130M during his NBA career.
He will be 40 by the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and given the emerging talent head coach Adam Caporn has at his disposal, and naturalised Australian Bryce Cotton, about to play his first game for the Boomers, the reality of him playing in an extraordinary sixth Olympiad is unlikely.
Mills has been linked to the Brisbane Bullets and Perth Wildcats ahead of NBL27, similarly to Boomers running mate Joe Ingles, who is in his last season in the NBA.
Ingles, 38, is reportedly set to join Melbourne United at the end of the Minnesota Timberwolves 2026 NBA Playoffs run – either by elimination or championship.
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