San Antonio Spurs’ Patty Mills to donate $1 million NBA salary to Black Lives Matter charities after season restart
San Antonio Spurs star Patty Mills has pledged to donate his entire NBA salary for the remainder of the season to organizations tackling racial inequality.
The 2019-20 season, which has been postponed since March, is scheduled to get underway on July 31 when 22 of the 30 NBA teams will congregate in Orlando, Florida, to finish the season.
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And Mills, an Australian native and 11-year NBA veteran, will donate the $1,017,818.54 he earns while playing in the remaining games to Black Lives Matter charities.
“I’ve made the decision to go to Orlando and I’m proud to say that I’m taking every cent earned from these eight games that we’re playing … and donating that directly back to Black Lives Matter Australia, Blacks Deaths in Custody and a recent campaign that’s called the We Got You campaign dedicated to ending racism in sport in Australia,” said Mills.
“I’m playing in Orlando because I don’t want to leave any money on the table that could be going directly to Black communities.”
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In May, Mills, an NBA champion with the Spurs in 2014, launched the Team Mills Foundation dedicated to “supporting and championing culture, diversity, women and underprivileged families and enacting positive change for the environment worldwide.”
On Tuesday, he voiced his support for the We Got You campaign, writing on social media: “When allies who stand up and speak out against racism, although a small gesture, this is one of many actions that have a tremendous impact on the person being targeted because they feel the support.
“It can also make whoever racially vilifies that person reconsider [their] own behavior.”
The remainder of the NBA season will be played at Disney World in Orlando without fans in attendance, although a coalition of players led by Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving have opted out of the restart to continue focusing on the Black Lives Matter movement and the global call for social change in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
The league will also support the movement as it plans to paint the words “Black Lives Matter” on all playing courts in Orlando.
