In a somewhat surprising move, long-time mainstay Patty Mills has been omitted from Australia’s roster for the upcoming FIBA Oceania Championships.
With guidance from the Spurs, Mills reportedly chose to skip upcoming warmup games against Slovenia and Lithuania in order to rest and continue rehabbing the shoulder, which required surgery last summer that forced him to miss the first half of the 2014-15 season.
Mills struggled to regain his form until the end of the campaign, when he drilled 16 of 28 3-pointers in the Spurs’ first-round loss to the L.A. Clippers.
Australia head coach Andrej Lemanis subsequently left him off the roster for next month’s two-leg Oceania matchup against New Zealand, with the winner earning automatic qualification for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.