Patrick Mills's NBA future is finally secure after the Canberra basketballer inked a two-year rookie deal worth almost $1million yesterday.
The Portland Trail Blazers offered Mills the 15th and final spot on their roster just five days before the start of the 2009-10 season.
It ended months of speculation that the 21-year-old would be cut from Portland's list and he would have to become a free agent to chase his NBA dream.
He hasn't trained or played a game yet, but he already earns more than most NRL and AFL players.
''This is amazing, it's such a good feeling,'' a relieved Mills told The Canberra Times last night.
''It feels like I finally got the gorilla off my back.
''It could have gone either way and it could have went the total opposite to what I wanted.
''It was a massive gorilla and there were times when I thought I wasn't going to make it but finally I've got rid of it and now I just want to be part of the team.''
The Trail Blazers will officially announce Mills's signing today.
He had been competing with Ime Udoka and Jarron Collins for the last place on the roster.
And despite playing no part part in Portland's pre-season campaign because of his broken foot, the Trail Blazers opted to take a chance on the former Marist College student.
Mills who has been based in Oakland while his foot heals flew to Portland yesterday to have scans and talk to team management about his future.
He flew back to Portland yesterday afternoon with a cheque estimated to be worth almost $US460,000 ($A499,292) a season.
The Trail Blazers have a payroll of $63million.
While Mills's cut appears small, he was just relieved to have an income after five difficult months.
''I'm going to get some chicken wings from my favourite fast-food kind of restaurant over here to celebrate,'' he said. ''The dollars aren't bad. Because I've been in limbo for so long the main thing was to make sure I actually felt part of a team.
''When I say I was living in limbo I wasn't in school, I wasn't earning money and I didn't have a job it was hard.''
Portland offered Mills a rookie deal last week, but it had until the end of the month to take the offer away and waive the right to sign the point guard.
The Trail Blazers took Mills at pick No55 in the NBA draft in June.
However, he broke his foot at his first training session with the team and missed his opportunity to impress the coaching staff.
His foot has almost completely healed and he will slowly make his return to the court over the next six weeks.
The Trail Blazers open their 2009-10 season against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday. Mills said now he had his contract finalised, his next goal was to make his debut in the world's best league.
''First of all I want to play and then I want to stay [at that level] for as long as I can.''
The Australian Institute of Sport graduate will be one of four Australians in the NBA this season.
He joins former No1 draft pick Andrew Bogut, David Andersen and Nathan Jawai.