The NBA announced today that Brooklyn Nets guard Patty Mills has been selected to participate in the MTN DEW 3-Point Contest at State Farm All-Star Saturday Night.
Mills is the first Australian native to be selected to participate in the 3-Point Contest, and he will become the second Net born outside of the United States to compete in the event, joining Drazen Petrovic.
Additionally, Mills will also become the fifth Net to participate in the 3-Point Contest, joining Joe Harris (2020 and 2019), Joe Johnson (2014), Anthony Morrow (2012) and Petrovic (1992). Harris is the only Net to ever win the contest, finishing atop the leaderboard in 2019.
Although the competition won’t see reigning champion Steph Curry return to defend this title, Mills will have his hands full going head to head with some of the league’s deadliest long-range scorers. NBA stars Trae Young, Fred VanVleet, Karl-Anthony Towns, Zach LaVine, CJ McCollum, Luke Kennard and Desmond Bane currently make up the field for the 2022 NBA three-point contest.
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In his first season in Brooklyn, Mills ranks fourth in the league in 3-pointers made with 172 and ninth in the league in 3-point percentage (42.5 per cent). He’s the only player in the NBA to rank in the top 10 in 3-pointers made and 3-point percentage.
Mills’ 172 threes are already a single-season career-high, besting the 161 threes he made last season with the San Antonio Spurs, and his 3-point percentage is on pace to be the highest in a season in his career.
The 33-year-old also leads the league in catch-and-shoot 3-pointers made (140) and is already tied for fifth in Nets single-season history in 3-pointers made.
The durable Mills (he’s missed just one game this season) is on pace to set single-season career highs in points per game (13.8) and minutes per game (31.0), and he leads Brooklyn in 3-pointers made, offensive rating (113.5) and plus/minus (+158) this season.
Mills is also just one start away from matching his single-season career-high of 36, set in the 2017-18 season with San Antonio. Mills’ Nets career got off to a historic start when he made each of his first 10 3-pointers of the season, becoming the first player in NBA history to make each of his first 10 threes in a season.
He also established a career-high and set a Nets record for a player coming off the bench when he buried nine 3-pointers in a road victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Nov. 14.
For the season, Mills has appeared in 52 games and has been producing some of the best basketball of his career. He is averaging a career-high 13.8 points per game as well as 2.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 31.0 minutes per game. He’s been shooting 43.6 per cent from the field, 42.5 per cent from distance and 88.4 per cent from the free-throw line, all above his career average and he’s been at the most efficient with the ball also with his turnovers per possession count being the lowest of his career.
The shooting competition will be the second event on All-Star Saturday Night, which begins at 8 p.m. ET on Feb. 19.
Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.
