NBL champions Illawarra Hawks are making a bold play to sign Boomers captain Patty Mills.
Speculation is rife that Mills is ready to return home after 15 seasons playing in the NBA. The Perth Wildcats loomed as the early favourites to land Mills, as a direct replacement for the Adelaide 36ers-bound Bryce Cotton.

Watch: Andrew Gaze on the NBL's Indigenous round.
But the Mercury understands the Hawks have now seriously entered the race to bring one of Australia’s most decorated players to Wollongong.
The club, particularly former Hawk Tyson Demos, enjoys a good relationship with NBA championship winner (2014 with the San Antonio Spurs) Mills.
In 2018, Demos and the Hawks partnered with the Illawarra Aboriginal Medical Service to make its December 16 clash with arch-rivals Sydney that year the league’s first Indigenous game.
To highlight this game, Mills - who has represented Australia in multiple Olympic Games, including the 2021 Tokyo Games where he led the Boomers to a bronze medal and was the first Indigenous Australian flag-bearer – addressed the global NBA media in the Hawks’ first-ever Indigenous jersey.
When Mills put the jersey on a global show and called out the league’s attempts to take ownership of the Hawks’ initiative online, the push for an Indigenous Round became a juggernaut.
At the time, the 36-year-old tweeted: "NBL to celebrate Indigenous history"??? Just to clarify, this is @illawarrahawks’ initiative and they are super proud of it.”

The Hawks are now hopeful this relationship will help the club in its efforts to bring the Australian basketball icon to Wollongong.
What Mills brings to the Hawks

Glen Saville, a Illawarra Hawks’ 2001 championship-winning team member, would love to see Mills in a Hawks jersey.
'[Signing Mills] would be massive for the club, especially coming off the back of winning a championship,” Saville said.
“To get someone of the calibre of Patty Mills would also be huge from a league perspective.
“It would be the greatest signing for our town and our team. [Mills] grew up in Canberra, so let’s adopt him to Wollongong if we can.

Picture supplied and by Anna Warr.
“Adding to the fact that we just won a championship, the level of professionalism, talent and everything he would bring to our club is unbelievable.”
The Justin Tatum-coached Hawks have already signed nine players for next season. Championship-winning guard Trey Kell III has yet to commit to the club for the NBL26 season.
The Hawks are keen to re-sign the All NBL First Team star, but not at the expense of missing out on Mills’ signature.
Saville, whose jersey hangs on the rafters of the WIN Entertainment Centre, said he was ecstatic that players of the calibre of Mills were seriously considering playing for the Hawks.
“Probably in my early days when we were playing out the Snakepit, geographically our town was a small market team, no doubt about that, but a team that punches well above its weight,” he said.

“We’re probably still considered that in some respects, but now we’re champions, and it’s no surprise big players want to come to Wollongong.
“Returning NBA players might be a trend we see for many years to come. We have so many players in the NBA now, many of whom are eventually getting towards the end of their careers, and they are looking to come back and play in Australia.
“For Patty to be able to do that for us...…you couldn’t ask for anything more than to get someone like Patty.
“I think the first thing I think is just his level of professionalism, not to say that there’s not a great level of professionalism in our club now, most definitely, we’ve just shown that for quite a while.
“But someone like Patty and the profile that he will bring and that level of professionalism is second to none in the way that he’s looked after himself and carried himself for many years in the NBA.
“Speaking of someone punching above their weight many years ago, it would have been considered that he was too small to play as a shooting guard in the NBA. But that hasn’t stopped Patty from enjoying an outstanding NBA career.”
Mills’ NBA career

The Portland Trailblazers drafted Mills with the 55th overall pick in 2009. He has also played for the San Antonio Spurs, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Utah Jazz.
He won an NBA championship with the Spurs in 2014.
“It’s good news to see that we’re in the hunt for someone like Patty,” Saville said.

So we can glean that they've reached out and had the conversation with him, and they believe they have a preexisting relationship that may help. I am not sure what dollar amount it takes to get a deal like that done, but they're owned by a billionaire so I am sure whatever he's willing to invest is what they're going to have at their disposal. I can only imagine the feedback is positive about an NBL return for Patty if another team is jumping on the bandwagon and talking publicly about it. I think there's a lot of smoke around this and I think probably a high likelihood now he ends up in the NBL or I just dont think we'd be seeing teams publicly jockeying for him as we now are.

Is Mills married to an Australian or American, wife's normally like a say in these decisions. Do the Mills want big town or small town atmosphere? You would think a Bogut type of deal would be required to get him back. Hawks owner is also taking the nbl to court, how does that sit with Mills?.

His wife is Californian. So being around her family when the baby comes in August could come into play.