Nets Guard on How Gregg Popovich Took the News Of Him Leaving Spurs: ‘To My Surprise, He Responded Within 3 Minutes Or Something’

When Patty Mills left the San Antonio Spurs for the Brooklyn Nets in August 2021, it was one of the toughest decisions of his career. During a spirited Q & A session with NBA.com, he discussed his experiences. He described how difficult it was for him to wear the Nets jersey to his first game as a Net in San Antonio. A decade of his career was with the Spurs where he was part of the 2014 championships. His leadership has inspired the newcomers in San Antonio.

It was emotional for him to play for a rival team at the same place where he spent a decade. In spite of the emotional transition, he is committed to giving his best to the Nets. In the interview, he also described how he dealt with all the changes that were taking place during that time. He discussed how his former coach, Gregg Popovich, reacted to the news. 

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Patty Mills knew it was time to join the Brooklyn Nets, a career-changing decision

Jumping from one career to another is always a tiring process that requires a lot of patience and maturity in order to deal with the changes. Let’s say you’re competing in a competition at the Olympics, and you need to tell your boss you’ll be leaving. That’s going to take a lot of courage. 

He took this decision when Australia defeated Argentina in the quarterfinal game of the Olympics, as he told ESPN. Around 4 p.m. he called Popovich from Tokyo to announce his departure for Brooklyn. Consequently, he wanted to be the one to inform his coach before any news spread in the media.

In the interview, he mentioned how he went about informing his previous coach Popovich of the situation.

“But I just sent (Popovich) a text and let him know about what I was feeling and how I thought it was strange timing and very hard timing. But I just wanted to let him know what I wanted to do, assuming that I wasn’t going to (be able to catch up with him in the next day or so in person).”

“To my surprise, he responded within, I think it was like three minutes or something that I got a text back… So, I think finally we got to catch up. We played them in the semifinal game, and we got to catch up after the game, and then again after the medal games.”

Losing their favorite player was a very difficult experience for the San Antonio team and its fans. Mills similarly struggled to play at their own venue in a different jersey.

Let us know how you felt about the news released in 2021.

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