NBL boss tips Patty Mills for Australian swansong
Larry Kestelman would be surprised if Patty Mills did not finish his career with an NBL swansong, as uncertainty surrounds the Boomers captain's future.
The Australian NBA veteran has been a free agent since his Los Angeles Clippers suffered a 4-3 playoff series loss to Western Conference rivals the Denver Nuggets this month.
Mills has not had a long-term NBA home since being traded by the Brooklyn Nets in July 2023, suiting up for four different teams in the subsequent two seasons.
The Australian still has considerable pull as a locker-room figure for younger players, given his leadership qualities and status as a 2014 championship winner.
But Mills' rapid-fire moves from Miami to Atlanta, to Utah and finally the Clippers have raised questions about his long-term future in the NBA.
Mills was also the 25th oldest player in the NBA this season and will turn 37 before the new season tips off in October.
It is likely Mills will wait to determine his future, having not signed on with the Utah Jazz until the weeks before the ongoing season began.
But the first Australian to reach 1000 NBA games has previously indicated he would be open to returning to the NBL one day.
He last featured in the league for the Melbourne Tigers, now Melbourne United, in 2011.
Kestelman believed Mills would at some point follow fellow Aussies Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova and Aron Baynes in returning from NBA stints to play on home soil.
"I would be surprised if Patty at some stage doesn't come and play here. I know that's his want and intent," Kestelman said.
"When that is (that) needs to be on his terms, when he feels right about it.
"I can't speak for whether it's this year or next, but our hope is that he absolutely comes and plays in front of his family and fans here in the NBL."
Playing in the NBL would come with a hefty pay cut for Mills, whose deal for the 2024/25 season was worth $5.3 million.
The salary cap for the 2025/26 NBL season sits at a little more than $2 million for an entire squad, but clubs are able to exceed that limit if they pay a luxury tax.
That rule has permitted clubs to lure such star locals as Dellavedova, Xavier Cooks and Jack White back from overseas stints in recent times.
The Adelaide 36ers, Melbourne United and Perth Wildcats are among the clubs on the lookout for starting guards for next season, with the last of those teams needing to fill the sizeable gap left by long-term import Bryce Cotton.
Kestelman, who bought the league in 2015, has always wanted the NBL to be a place Australian superstars could finish their careers.
"It was always part of the vision to have a bit of a circular economy where we can create a product in the NBL that some of the youngest stars can come, develop their skills and go to the NBA," he said.
"And vice versa, especially for Australians, that there's a league that they can be proud of to come and play for the last few years of their career."
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But although she had beaten Tagger at this year's Australian Open in a hard-fought 4-6 6-2 6-2 quarter-final tussle, this time the Austrian had the answers. Emerson Jones' dreams of becoming the first Australian to win the French Open girls' singles title in 57 years are over. The Gold Coast local, who turns 17 on July 7, has fallen at the semi-final stage, bowing out to Lilli Tagger 6-4 7-6 (7-5). The 17-year-old Austrian also dented Jones' hopes of regaining her junior world No.1 ranking and denied her the chance to take on her doubles partner in Saturday's final. Britain's Hannah Klugman won through to her maiden grand slam final after a resilient 1-6 6-3 6-3 defeat of Bulgarian Rositsa Dencheva. She is the first British player to reach a French Open juniors final in almost 50 years. Jones had hoped to make history herself. Australia's last winner of the girls singles title at Roland Garros was Perth-born Lesley Hunt, who triumphed in 1968. 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