Patty Mills is heading to the EuroLeague at last. The 37-year-old Australian guard has signed a one-year contract with ASVEL Villeurbanne for the 2026/27 season, ONE reports, ending a two-decade professional career in which he had never previously featured in Europe's top club competition.
The move carries an obvious storyline: ASVEL's head coach is Tony Parker, Mills' teammate on the San Antonio Spurs side that won the 2014 NBA championship. Twelve years after lifting that title together, the pair will now work from the same bench in Villeurbanne, with Parker having taken charge of the French club this summer.
For ASVEL, the signing is as much about necessity as sentiment. According to the reporting, the club had only four players under contract before agreeing terms with Mills, a reflection of the financial difficulties that have squeezed the storied French side heading into the new season. Mills becomes the fifth man on a roster still being pieced together.
Mills arrives in France on the back of a productive stint in Spain with La Laguna Tenerife, his first season playing outside the NBA. He averaged 18.6 points across 11 Liga ACB appearances, then lifted his scoring further to around 17 points per game in the playoffs, including a standout outing against FC Barcelona in the semi-finals.
His NBA résumé remains one of the most well-travelled in the league's recent history: 921 regular-season games across seven franchises — Portland, San Antonio, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Miami, Utah and the LA Clippers. The Spurs title in 2014 stands as the highlight, with Mills contributing off the bench throughout that Finals run.
The EuroLeague debut he is now set to make has been a notable absence on his CV given the length and pedigree of his career. Villeurbanne, one of France's most decorated clubs and a regular in Europe's elite competition, gives him that opportunity for the first time at 37.
Whether Mills can still perform at EuroLeague level after a career built almost entirely in the NBA and, most recently, the Spanish league remains to be tested. But the reunion with Parker — his championship-winning point guard turned head coach — gives the signing a narrative weight that goes beyond the roster math at a club still finding its feet financially.
