What No. 8 means to Patty Mills and how he was able to convince Brice Sensabaugh to give it up

Patty Mills is really excited about this season and about the role that he’s been asked to take on for the Utah Jazz. And for the first time in a long time, the 36-year-old veteran is going into the NBA season with perfect clarity about what his role entails.

“There’s no secret to who the young boys are on this team that are going to be a massive focal point. My role is to get the best out of them.”

Utah Jazz guard Patty Mills

“There’s no secret to who the young boys are on this team that are going to be a massive focal point,” Mills said. “My role is to get the best out of them.”

On the court and off the court, Mills will be tasked with building a strong foundation in the locker room and being someone that the young players can look up to in all aspects. But before Mills arrived in Utah and long before training camp was set to begin, he had to make an important phone call.

Mills called Brice Sensabaugh, the Jazz’s No. 28 pick from the 2023 draft, to ask if he was attached to his current Jazz uniform number — No. 8.

The conversations that followed ended up opening a door to an early relationship for the two players. And, considering the reasons that Mills was brought to the Jazz, those conversations proved to be the perfect way for Mills to transition into his new role.

“Getting to know a teammate on probably a deeper level than usual,” Mills said of the conversations he had with Sensabaugh. “We went back and forth and spoke about (the uniform number) and I got to know him a little bit. Either way it went it would have been fine. But I think at the end of the day, it was good to just get to know Brice a little bit.”

Ultimately Sensabaugh, 20, said that it was his faith that guided him in telling Mills that he was willing to give him the uniform that Mills has worn for the majority of his 16-year NBA career.

“I’m big on my faith ... and God told me to give it up to him,” Sensabaugh said. “I wasn’t really tied to the number, but aside from that, I’ve learned not to always hold tightly onto earthly things too much, because I believe that we have eternal life after this and the game of basketball.”

Coincidentally, playing with the No. 8 on his uniform is something that is spiritually significant and important to Mills — something that grounds him and reminds him why he continues to play basketball and what the larger purpose is.

“I am Patty Mills, not the basketballer. I’m a Gugada, Naghiralgal, Dauareb-Meriam man, born and raised in Australia, so my culture is very strong to me being a proud indigenous man from Australia,” he said. “And number eight in the Meriam culture, the God comes in the shape of an octopus, and each of those eight tentacles is a tribe from the Meriam culture, and I’m from one of those tribes, Dauareb. And for me to wear the number eight, just like my uncle (Danny Morseu) did, I feel like I’m representing my family and my people back home.”

Upon further research, Mills discovered that there are eight federally recognized tribes and bands in Utah, which added to the feeling that wearing No. 8 was a significant and important part of his path with the Jazz.

“That was a cool little connection there that I made with Utah,” Mills said. “When you’re in a spiritual culture like that, you find a lot of relevance and connections with numbers and the land and the sky and the mountains and the oceans.”

While there were deeper things at work between Sensabaugh and Mills, usually when a more senior player comes to a new team and asks for a uniform number that is already being used, there is some sort of a monetary exchange or bartering that is done between the players. So far, Mills has not given Sensabaugh anything, but says that he’s got something in the works.

“I won’t ruin the surprise just yet, but I’ll let you know when it happens,” Mills said.