Patty Mills to miss seven months with shoulder injury

Australian NBA guard Patty Mills is set to spend up to seven months on the sidelines with a reported rotator cuff injury.

The injury comes at the worst possible time for the 25 year old as it will result in him missing the upcoming FIBA World Cup and could impact his financial earnings as a free agent in NBA.

Mills was expected to draw increased interest and money from rival teams after his breakout season where he was a key contributor for the San Antonio Spurs on their way to the championship.

As an unrestricted free agent Mills can sign with any team in the NBA, with the big market New York Knicks rumored to be interested in pursuing his services this off-season.

With the 2014-15 NBA season starting at the end of October, the shoulder injury means Mills will likely miss the first three months of the NBA season.

The likeliest scenario now is Mills re-signing with the Spurs on a deal in the vicinity of three to five million per year.

Affectionately called “A little fat ass” by coach Gregg Popovich, Mills’ improved form which saw him having the best season of his career was attributed to his improved fitness where he was able to halve his body fat.

“My body fat per centage was 12 or 13 per cent,” Mills said.

“When I came in at the beginning of the season I got it down to 5.8 per cent.”

Playing as a scoring spark plug off the bench, Mills doubled his scoring average from the previous season from 5.1 to 10.2.

With the FIBA World Cup tipping off on August 30, the Australian team will likely promote Dante Exum to the starting lineup.

Exum was recently drafted as the 5th overall selection in the 2014 NBA Draft to the Utah Jazz.

Exum’s backcourt partner will be another NBA guard Matthew Dellavedova who is coming off an excellent rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.