From the moment Patty Mills stepped out in the Illawarra Hawks first Indigenous design jersey, the thought lingered.
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Could there be a day when the NBA championship winner invests in the NBL club?
Without staged fanfare, Mills this week led an extraordinary and selfless tour of the bushfire-ravaged South Coast.
While other Australian athletes are to be commended for their efforts in the overwhelming clean-up job and raising morale among grief and anxiety-stricken communities, Mills has an international platform like no other to show their plight.
His social media posts are both heart-wrenching and heart-warming, in the wake of human and wildlife tragedy, as well as the sheer scale of the fire damage done.
Mills has also worked to introduce Indigenous recognition in the NBA this season, in the same way the Hawks pioneered the cultural initiative in the NBL.
Adding weight to the idea of Mills investing in the Hawks is his friendship with Tyson Demos - on the Illawarra coaching staff and a remarkable and tireless advocate for Indigenous communities through basketball - which stretches back to the age of four.
And Mills comes from Canberra, where the Hawks continue to flirt with the national capital about hosting competition games there, for their own financial benefit.
Current owner Simon Stratford has driven down the ongoing Hawks debt in recent weeks, to the point where it may actually be viable for him to continue in charge, even as a number of other potential parties watch on with interest.
Stratford attended an NBL owners meeting in Melbourne this week after the annual MVP awards night.
But the same issues still present themselves about what another season under Stratford would look like.
Remember, it was the NBL who footed the LaMelo Ball bill through the Next Stars program and the Hawks took several weeks to stump up for injury replacements for Aaron Brooks and Ball.
The two players they eventually signed - Billy Preston and Darington Hobson - were anything but raging success stories.
After a 5-23 season where they finished last, the Hawks remain painfully under-resourced compared to the powerhouse NBL clubs.
Where's the vision for the future? After 12 games in Hawks colours, Ball been linked to taking an ownership share in the Hawks, but the family empire has the small matter of him being drafted - potentially at No.1 - next season to consider.
Which brings us back to Mills.
If the NBL's new-found love-affair with the NBA is to be maintained, having a champion of Australia, Australian basketball and Indigenous causes as an owner would be the perfect fit.
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