Patty Mills has congratulated the Wallabies for their "inspirational" performance to defeat New Zealand in the third Bledisloe Cup Test at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday.
The San Antonio Spurs point guard, who earlier this year signed a four-year deal worth $Aus65 million to remain in Texas, the most lucrative contract agreed by an Australian in NBA history, wrote a post on Instagram congratulating the Wallabies not only for their performance to claim their first Bledisloe Cup Test win since August 2015 but also for "the way each player represented Australia and all Indigenous people and communities throughout the country".
The Wallabies, who defeated the All Blacks 23-18 in Brisbane, did so wearing a special jersey to celebrate Australian Indigenous culture that was described by Kurtley Beale at launch as "pretty cool ... amazing ... it's obviously a very special symbol that recognises all the 14 [Indigenous] players that have played in the Wallaby jersey".
Beale, a Wallabies player of Aboriginal descent, was key in the Australian Rugby Union's decision to launch the jumper, earlier this year saying he was "just thankful and very glad that we've come to it and we're able to do it and hopefully looking forward to continuing that in the years to come".
Mills, the son of a Torres Strait Islander father, Benny, and an Aboriginal mother, Yvonne, congratulated Beale for his involvement in the concept, saying on Instagram that he had "goosebumps seeing all the boys in the jerseys on the field".
"For me, it was a pretty historical night to see the recognition of indigenous people in Australia on the sporting field," Mills told ESPN on Monday.
"That's something that I've felt to be hugely important.
"So I wanted to share it with everyone, obviously my followers on social media. It was a special night. Most importantly, they got the win against the No. 1 team, the All Blacks. So it was a magic night."
It's not the first time that Mills has displayed his love of the green and gold, having previously posted an image of himself on Instagram wearing a Wallabies jumper in support of the team ahead of their controversial Rugby World Cup quarterfinal victory against Scotland in 2015.
Mills earlier this year spoke exclusively with ESPN about the message he has been spreading about his history and culture, and how it was being received by people from a wide range of backgrounds -- not just those from his homeland.
"The way that I represent Australia and Indigenous Australia affects other people as well from other cultures," he told ESPN.
As one of Australia's highest-profile active Indigenous athletes, Mills has become an ambassador of sorts for his culture, a path he never dreamed he would navigate when he entered the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2009. It was unimaginable to Mills, 28, that it would get to a point where he is able to spread awareness of his culture around the U.S. every chance he gets. But he's relishing the role.
"You don't realize it at the time," he said, "but the more you travel around the country and you see the different lifestyles, from Texas to New York to Ohio, and how different they are -- all those [are] opportunities [that] people want to know about you."
