To the average 40-hour-a-week worker, the US $4.3 million that Patty Mills rakes in per annum is an incomprehensible amount. But for a proven NBA point guard, particularly one who owns a championship ring, it's a relatively modest figure. Some may even say the Australian basketball star is underpaid. However, it's not through a lack of others trying to bolster his pay cheque.
Mills, to the surprise of many, three times has rejected greater offers from NBA franchises keen to lure him out of San Antonio. On each occasion he has opted to remain loyal to the Spurs, a team that has not been able to offer him anything more than a bench role during his six-year tenure. Despite his unquestionable talent, the Australian has started just 18 of a possible 367 regular-season games since joining the franchise in 2012.
So why has he shown a sense of loyalty that's almost non-existent in such a cut-throat league? For Mills, the decision to knock back larger offers was simple.
"It's about winning championships and wanting to be part of the last team standing," Mills tells ESPN. However, since winning the NBA championship in 2014, the Spurs have been replaced by Golden State as top dogs of the Western Conference, and when Kawhi Leonard went down they were certainly no match for the Warriors this season. Mills was able to step up when Parker suffered a season-ending quadriceps injury in the Western Conference semifinals, helping the team past Houston Rockets, but he and San Antonio subsequently were swept by the NBA champion Warriors in the conference finals. Now 28, Mills finds himself as a free agent facing a monumental decision about his future; and with the Spurs reportedly chasing Clippers point guard Chris Paul, it could once again leave the Aussie on the outer.
Mills would be a great fit with many NBA franchises, but the Philadelphia 76ers loom as potential leaders in the race for the Aussie's signature. Mills spent two years working alongside Sixers coach Brett Brown -- who was previously an assistant at the Spurs -- and may be swayed by the temptation of joining fellow Australian Ben Simmons.
While Mills has a decision to make, former Australian basketballer Chris Anstey says his compatriot isn't someone to simply jump at the highest offer. "Patty is a loyal guy so if the Spurs get anywhere near his market value he could stay," Anstey told The New Daily. "He might take a small discount to stay."
Mills has always been someone to do things a little differently. In fact, his path to the NBA was unlike any other and it's not inconceivable that he could have played out a completely different sporting life.
Back in 2004, Mills claimed the Williams Medal in Perth as Australia's best under-15 Australian Rules football prospect; it was an award which was won the previous year by Geelong triple premiership player Joel Selwood. Despite being a late-comer to footy, Mills demonstrated many attributes that could have resulted in him being drafted into the AFL.
"It was my family that first got me interested in Aussie Rules," Mills tells ESPN. "I began following it and then I said 'let me give it a crack', so I did when I was in high school. When I started playing I was at an age where I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but the more I played the more I enjoyed it. I felt like there were a lot of similarities to basketball."
Despite his love for the game, Mills couldn't forge a career in Aussie Rules as there wasn't a competitive offer or pathway at the time. Instead, he opted to take up a basketball scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport that had been rejected by Scott Pendlebury, who is now better known as the captain of the Collingwood Football Club.
Some 8800 miles away, Mills has blossomed into one of Australia's greatest basketballers, says he still follows the AFL with a keen interest.
"During the season it can be hard but I do follow it," says Mills, who played with St Mary's in the NCAA before being drafted into the NBA by Portland Trail Blazers, as the best No.55 pick in history.
"It is Australian culture and when you're away from the homeland those are the things that help keep you connect to home."
This summer, Mills has to decide if he'll stay in his new home of San Antonio or accept a fresh challenger elsewhere. Whichever way that decision takes him, you can be sure of one thing: Patty Mills most certainly will continue to forge his own path.