Patty Mills is a household name to many, known for his superstar career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and now as Australia's ceiling-smashing Olympic flag-bearer.
But his story starts with a quiet childhood in Canberra, shooting hoops in the suburbs, playing on an Indigenous basketball team run by his parents and dreaming big.
Those closest to Mills have watched him grow from a kid who dreamed big to a man proudly inspiring the next generation of Indigenous kids.
"He was always disciplined, determined, dedicated to his craft, it doesn't surprise me he is now representing our country on the international stage,'' said his cousin, Luke Currie-Richardson.
"I remember us in the Canberra winter, we're in our [traditional] grass skirts at the NAIDOC events just absolutely freezing but also just having the best time dancing," he said fondly.
"You know I wouldn't be surprised if he wore his grass skirt and danced his way around that Tokyo field at the games, that's just who Patty is — proud of his heritage."
Mills was this week announced as Australia's first-ever Indigenous flag-bearer, an honour he'll share with Queensland swim-star Cate Campbell, who is also the first female swimmer to do the job.
It was previously an appointment reserved for just one member of the Olympic team, but this is the first time all countries will be represented by both male and female athletes.
Not even Cathy Freeman was given this opportunity and for many in the Indigenous community, Mills' selection is cause for celebration.
"This is the Cathy Freeman moment for another generation … it shows our kids you can be one of the very best," said Dion Devow, the founder of an Indigenous basketball club in Canberra.
The inspiration for Dion's club, the Winnunga Warriors, was the all-Indigenous team Mills played in, the Shadows, as a child in the same city.
"You can't be what you can't see … and look what all our kids can see now."
But those who know 32-year-old Mills see that his achievements are no stroke of luck.
From a young age, Mills was steadfast, committed to being the best athlete he could be.
"I remember lying on a mattress in his room at a sleepover and he had his goals on the wall," Luke told the ABC.
"It was like; make the Australian Emus squad … play American college basketball … and make the Olympics … play in the NBA … and now he's done all that."
He was a gifted athlete and at one stage of his life, AFL coaches were trying to convince him to play professionally, but Luke said basketball was always number one for his cousin.
"I remember I'd play ball and try and do all the tricky stuff, but he was just solid, he'd practice the real skills over and over, just perfecting it … and he still is that committed," he said.
"Honestly we were just these little balas, running amok and just hitting the [basketball] courts all the time."
The pair refer to each other as "bala", a word often used by Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people to describe someone they consider a brother.
"Technically we're very, very distant cousins, we have our bloodlines on Murray Island in the Torres Strait, but really we're more like brothers," Luke said.
Mills is also a relative of Eddie Mabo, the Native Title champion from the same island. He identifies as a proud Kokatha, Naghiralgal and Dauareb-Meriam man.
"Always from a young age we were just so proud of our roots, of our heritage, and we were educated by our elders about how to practice our dancing," Luke said.
Together the pair played on the Shadows basketball team, which Mills's parents helped start and run.
"We knew, like, our parents grew up playing on cement pitches on the islands somewhere … yet here we are on professional courts, that was on our minds."
As a high-school student, Mills started attending the Australian Institute of Sport.
Mills started playing for the Australian men's basketball team in 2007, the same year he accepted a scholarship to play college basketball in the United States for Saint Mary's College of California.
He was selected for his first Olympics in Beijing in 2008, leading the Boomers in scoring as they made it to the quarter-finals.
In 2009, Mills achieved his dream of playing in the NBA when he was drafted in the second round by the Portland Trailblazers.
But the biggest move of his career came in 2012 when he signed with the San Antonio Spurs under legendary coach Gregg Popovich.
He has stayed with the team since, signing multi-million-dollar contracts and winning an NBA championship in 2014.
Mills 'a superstar' to the next generation
It's a career that many young Indigenous kids in his old neighbourhood would love to recreate, Dion Devow said.
"He's a superstar in a lot of their minds for sure … he's well-established, and he's just had an incredible career and they know he played in Canberra too," he said.
Dion's inspiration for his Canberra team came from the Shadows, the former team Mills' parents helped run.
"The concept is around having a club that we could participate in and share our culture, practise reconciliation, practise healthy lifestyles, and give Aboriginal people a community here," he said.
"We've had our hardships to deal with, especially racism — the kids have been through some really hard experiences when it comes to racism."
Battling racism is something Mills has been open about, at times describing it as "a constant I've learnt to deal with".
He's also revealed in past interviews that it's a "constant" which has only intensified with fame.
He's been an outspoken advocate of the Black Lives Matter movement and regularly wears Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander designs and flags while playing in America.
In 2020, Mills announced he would donate about $1.5 million, or his entire year's earnings, to three Indigenous charities: Black Lives Matter Australia, Black Deaths in Custody and The We Got You campaign.
Early in 2020, he also founded Indigenous Basketball Australia, a not-for-profit entity delivering programs at a grassroots level for youths.
"That's why our youth will see it as so incredible someone who has been through all that is representing us on the world stage," Dion told the ABC.
"He's real, he's the same bala he's always been … supporting the community, showcasing who we are, that's what really matters to him," Mr Currie-Richardson said.
On one trip to Murray Island, Luke said he and Mills were together, dressed up and dancing for their community — and he realised something special.
"We went from dancing in the cold Canberra winter, those kids at NAIDOC week, to performing on our ancestral lands together for our people," he said.
"That's when I realised man this, his story, this is something written by the ancestors … it's special."