Patty Mills leaves NBL for a lucrative offer in China – NBA Update
The National Basketball League (NBL) lost one of the most dynamic and marketable player Patty Mills this week after the Melbourne Tigers’ superstar singed a lucrative contract with the Chinese club Xinjiang Flying Tigers.
The Chinese club has signed the 23-year-old point guard, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA, for 1 million dollars and Mills made the announcement himself on Sunday.
The departure of Patty Mills will be a huge blow for the Melbourne’s Tigers Championship run and will also affect the basketball marketing in Australia. However, the majority owner of the Tigers Seamus McPeake stated that, although
Patty Mills’ exodus will affect the team greatly but it will be selfish to force him to stay when he is having a huge offer.
''We're fortunate to have had him for as long as we have and it would have been selfish of us to try to hold him here. He's been absolutely fantastic for us and he would have done anything for us. We wouldn't even think of holding
onto him with that kind of money to be made. Patty has been great both on and off the court in his time here and despite the fact that it is disappointing to see him depart hopefully we will see him back in the future.” McPeake said.
Seamus further stated that he has agreed to release Mills on immediate bases and the former Melbourne superstar will be reaching to his new destination in couple of days.
Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese league is on the move to make their team stronger for the season. Xinjiang has already signed NBA veteran Kenyon Martin in what is the most lucrative deal in the history of the Chinese Basketball
Association and are looking forward to land Dallas Mavericks’ NBA champion J.J. Barea and Atlanta Hawks’ superstar Jamal Crawford. With the arrival of Patty Mills, Xinjiang Flying Tigers definitely has added more versatility to their squad.
Mills was very excited on having a big opportunity to play in China which will earn him a huge contract. He thanked his fans in Australia and stated that it’s a big opportunity for him to take his game to the next level.
“Just want to thank all the basketball fans in Australia for their support while I've been here. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity." Mills said.
One of the major drawbacks for Patty Mills is that his contract with the Chinese club doesn’t have the out clause option which means that he won’t be able to return, if the NBA gets back to business.
Tags: