Oklahoma City look set to have the services of three Australian Boomers for the next NBA season, with Patty Mills reported to be joining the Thunder in a deal from the Houston Rockets.
Mills, who spent two years at the Brooklyn Nets after joining them from the San Antonio Spurs in 2021, looked destined for the Rockets in day two of a crazy free-agency period before the 34-year-old was dealt to the Thunder.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the Thunder will take on Mills’ $US6.8 million ($A10.2m) expiring contract and receive draft compensation as part of the deal.
Mills would join emerging star Josh Giddey at the Thunder along with fellow Australian and new NBA champion Jack White.
Victorian White signed a two-year deal with Oklahoma City after being part of the Denver Nuggets’ championship-winning setup this season.
The move would be the third time an NBA side had three Australians on the same roster.
Ben Simmons, Matisse Thybulle and Jonah Bolden were briefly together with the 2019-20 Philadelphia 76ers, while Dante Exum, Thon Maker and Matthew Dellavedova were with Cleveland in 2020.
Simmons, Mills and Melbourne-born USA international Kyrie Irving were all on Brooklyn’s roster in the recently completed NBA season.
Giddey, Mills and White are all part of the Australian Boomers’ 18-man squad named for this year’s FIBA World Cup to be held across Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines from late August.
The new recruits are expected to add some punch to a Thunder side who made the 2023 NBA play-in tournament and will welcome the services of 2022 second overall draft pick Chet Holmgren, who missed last season with a foot injury.
Mills and White are among a number of Australians making moves in free agency, after former Phoenix Suns centre Jock Landale signed a four-year deal worth $US32 million ($A48m) with the Rockets.
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Landale, 27, will likely be competing for a role as back-up to starting centre Alperen Sengun.
The 34-year-old Mills has been traded from the Brooklyn Nets, ending a two-year stint there as a bench guard option. On Saturday the Nets tweeted “Thank you Patty Mills”.
And there was another heartening development for Australian basketball with Dante Exum securing a guaranteed one-year deal with the Mavericks after helping Serbian club Partizan to the ABA League title this year.
The 27-year-old Exum was the overall No.5 pick in the 2014 NBA draft for the Utah Jazz and he spent five seasons there in a stint hard hit by injury before joining the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2019 then moving to Europe with FC Barcelona in 2021.
On the opening day of free agency, Joe Ingles signed a two-year deal with the Orlando Magic.
with AAP
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