Utah Signs NBA Champion
Between Dante Exum and Joe Ingles the Utah Jazz have rostered a player from Australia throughout 2014 to 2022.
The last couple of seasons have lacked that Utah Jazz Aussie, alongside hideous uniforms and poor play.
Two of those three things are now being righted.
While I cant promise any better play for the upcoming 2024-2025 season, we know that Utah is slowly rolling out more “familiar” uniforms that the fans already have taking a liking too.
And after today, Utah once again has an Australian baller on the roster.
The Jazz and 16 year veteran Patty Mills have agreed to terms on a one year deal worth $3.3 million according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
This comes after Utah has made multiple signings in the last week as Mills slots into Utah’s final roster spot for the 2024-2025 season.
Patty brings veteran leadership to one of the associations youngest squads, being an NBA sportsmanship winner in 2022.
As a long time member of the highly regarded San Antonio Spurs from 2011-2020, the 36 year old won a championship under Greg Popovich in 2014.
Mills is coming off a split season with both the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat where he averaged 4 points a game on 27.6 % three point shooting with 1.1 assist a night in a grand total of 32 games.
In years past Mills could get you near 10-11 points a night with right around three assists on average while hitting the three at a 40 % clip.
Jazz fans shouldn’t expect that as Mills is almost at the tail end of the tail end of his career.
It is worth mentioning that Mills was more than serviceable during Australia’s Olympic run this year, and was a key piece to the teams success, especially in clutch scenarios.
As far as that translating to an 82 game season as opposed to a 4 game international tournament, I would guess the numbers dip a bit, but it shows he may have a little something left in the tank.
Fans are clearly worried that in this era of the rebuild that a veteran will only clog the potential playing time of some of the younger backcourt players in which Utah is trying to develop.
The reality is, anyone who earns playing time should get playing time based on Coach Will Hardy’s own words and philosophy of “No free minutes” as laid out by Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune:
It isn't just Mills who could step in and hamper young players seeing time, recent signings like Drew Eubanks or Svi Mykhailiuk could be just as big of threats.
But if Coach Hardy holds true to his beliefs pertaining to this topic, fans can expect to see the youth play when the coaches feel they have worked hard enough to deserve the minutes.
Hate it or love it, you have to respect it. Earned minutes are always valuable minutes.
But fans will be keeping a keen eye out for any situation they deem similar to lets say.. a Talen Horton-Tucker situation.
Regardless of playing time, it would appear as If Utah and Mills are simply helping each other at this point in their respective journey’s.
Patty is a proven leader, an adult in the room, and he requires no future commitment.
Factor in the connection with Coach Hardy from their time in San Antonio, and it makes a bit more sense as the Jazz continue to shape the culture.
Mills gets another NBA contract, Utah gets a rental player to finalize a roster in a year where expectations are low as far as championships go alongside a solid veteran presence who can help teach the young backcourt a thing or two.
Utah will be the 6th NBA team that Mills has called home and his 4th team since 2021.