Patty Mills has spent enough time at the highest level of basketball for very few things to genuinely feel new anymore, but his first weeks as a EuroLeague player have placed him in exactly that position, introducing the 38-year-old Australian to a competition, basketball culture and kind of pressure that he had previously experienced only from a distance.
His first visit to Athens offered perhaps the clearest example yet. ASVEL left Telekom Center with a heavy 102-79 defeat to Panathinaikos, and Mills was limited to five points in 13:26 after scoring 15 in his EuroLeague debut against Maccabi. Yet, when he spoke to SKWEEK shortly after the final buzzer, his first reaction was not to dwell on his own numbers or even exclusively on the result, but on finally experiencing an arena and fanbase he had heard about long before arriving in Europe.
“It was great. It was an unbelievable experience,” Mills told SKWEEK. “I’ve seen a lot about Panathinaikos and the arena and the fans and the way they play, so it was good to finally experience it firsthand. Obviously, for us it was a tough loss, but the bigger picture of experiencing something like this was pretty special, so I’m glad I got to do that.”
For someone whose career includes 16 NBA seasons, an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs and five Olympic appearances with Australia, describing another regular-season game as “pretty special” says something about what Mills was searching for when he decided to extend his career into Europe.
His EuroLeague sample remains extremely small, with 20 points across his first two appearances, but the contrast between those games has already given him an early taste of his new reality: 15 points, three assists and three three-pointers in 23:49 against Maccabi, followed by five points and only 13:26 on the floor in the defeat to Panathinaikos.
Through those two games he is averaging 10 points and two assists in 18:37, shooting 3/8 from three and a perfect 7/7 from the free-throw line, but Mills’ reasons for being here extend well beyond what his first EuroLeague stat line looks like. At this point in his career, Europe is simultaneously a new challenge, an opportunity to compete at a level that still demands something from him every night and, crucially, part of his preparation for what he hopes will be one last major run with Australia.
That is why the question of whether European basketball might finally provide a club environment in which the famous “FIBA Patty” can emerge was particularly relevant. Mills has repeatedly carried a much greater offensive responsibility with Australia than during much of his NBA career, with his international performances becoming such a recognizable part of his basketball identity that the nickname has followed him for years.
Asked whether playing in Europe could allow him to access more of that version of himself at club level, he did not reject the comparison.
“I think so. Obviously, competing at the elite level is something that I love doing and still being able to find new ways to be able to make an impact and obviously get ready for the World Cup and the Olympics coming up,” Mills said.
“So for me, it’s the joy of playing basketball, it’s the joy of competing and trying to get better each and every day, so it’s a great opportunity.”
LA 2028 remains firmly in the picture
The reference to Australia was not incidental, because when Mills was then asked how much longer he intends to play, he offered something considerably more concrete than the familiar veteran answer about taking his career one season at a time. His sights are already set on the next two summers that matter most to the Boomers, and particularly on the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“Well, the next two years is definitely in the sights towards LA-28, without a doubt,” Mills told SKWEEK. “I think I’m in a great environment and place to be able to prepare for those two major tournaments and an experience like tonight is great.”
Mills is not treating Europe as a ceremonial final stop after a long NBA career, but as an environment that can keep him competing, adapting and preparing for international basketball, with LA 2028 providing a tangible destination rather than an abstract possibility somewhere in the future.
His relationship with Tony Parker is the other major part of the equation, and probably the most personal reason why his European career began specifically in Villeurbanne. Mills and Parker were teammates in San Antonio, shared the Spurs’ 2014 championship and spent years together inside one of the NBA’s most stable organisations, only for their basketball relationship to resume much later with Parker now occupying an entirely different position.
Asked what he has seen in Tony Parker the coach that might have surprised the Tony Parker he knew as a player, Mills initially needed a moment to consider the question.
“Wow, that’s a great question,” he said. “I think just the point of being a coach. I don’t know if Tony ever thought as a player that he would ever be a coach, but our conversations was the longer that he was away from the game, the more he missed it. He’s been great with this whole project, both on and off the court, and I’m proud to be a part of this project and help in any way I can, not only on the court, but off it as well,” Mills continued.
“It’s a big vision picture here of what we’re trying to achieve. We’ve just got to lay the foundation first and be able to grow from there.”
“I don’t want to let him down”
That commitment became even clearer when the conversation moved toward ASVEL’s difficult summer and the uncertainty surrounding a project whose initial plans changed substantially before the season had even started. For Mills, however, the question of what ultimately convinced him to remain committed to it had an immediate answer.
“Tony, for sure. Understanding his vision and how I can help,” he said.
“For me, it’s obviously a close friend, a close teammate, and one that I’ve looked up to for many, many years, not only as a teammate. So for me, to be able to help out and have his back, and feel like I don’t want to let him down with this project of his. I’m all in, I’m going to do the best I can to be able to help him in the long run.”
First WIN for coach Parker. pic.twitter.com/EB4aPtmIJI
— LDLC ASVEL (@LDLCASVEL) September 24, 2026
Mills is clearly aware that Parker’s ambitions extend beyond the immediate results of this season, and his reference to helping “not only on the court, but off it as well” suggests that he sees his role within that process as broader than whatever production he provides during EuroLeague games.
For the moment, that production has fluctuated considerably. His opening performance against Maccabi demonstrated that he can still provide shot-making and creation at this level, while Panathinaikos gave him a very different night, with Mills playing just over 13 minutes as ASVEL struggled to remain competitive in a game that eventually got away from the French side.
Yet it was precisely that night in Athens that connected with another subject Mills was asked about after the game: Nikola Jokic’s recent argument that NBA players should spend an extended period playing in Europe simply to understand the pressure surrounding basketball on this side of the Atlantic.
Jokic’s point was not merely about tactics or differences in rules. His argument centered on the importance attached to every result, the consequences of losing several games in succession and the intensity surrounding clubs whose supporters treat basketball as something considerably larger than entertainment.
Nikola Jokic:
“I wish every NBA player would go play six months in Europe just to see how much pressure there is…
You play Wednesday against Olympiacos in Greece, then you’re playing at home against Red Star or Partizan.
If you have three losses in a row, it’s a big deal” pic.twitter.com/N43JMYl7nj
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) September 29, 2026
Mills was asked whether, after spending almost his entire professional career in the NBA and now beginning to experience EuroLeague himself, he could already understand what Jokic meant.His answer was unequivocal.
“From what I’ve experienced already in these first few games of playing in Europe, it’s really unbelievable,” Mills said.
“Everyone’s right, there’s nothing like it. This is a hell of an environment, a hell of a place to play basketball. I guess the culture of European basketball and everything that comes with it is very impressive.”
Coming immediately after his first game at Telekom Center, the Aussie guard had just experienced the environment Jokic was describing, while simultaneously discovering the less romantic part of European basketball: ASVEL had been beaten by 23 points, and there was little time to admire the surroundings while Panathinaikos was pulling away.
At 38, Mills does not need Europe to validate a career that already includes an NBA championship and a historic international legacy with Australia, nor does two EuroLeague games provide enough evidence to determine what kind of season he will have.
What his first weeks have revealed instead is why he is still playing at all: he wants elite competition, he wants to prepare himself for another Olympic Games, he wants to experience a basketball culture that was still unfamiliar to him after nearly two decades as a professional, and, perhaps most personally of all, he wants to help Tony Parker build something in Villeurbanne.