Three-time Olympian Patty Mills is adamant the Australian Boomers can make the most of the Tokyo postponement as he sets his sights on an elusive international medal.
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Mills has called for Olympic Games hopefuls to band together and reset their goals after coronavirus forced the IOC to reschedule for 2021.
Mills is widely tipped to be one of the contenders to carry the flag into the opening ceremony for what could be his last Olympic campaign given he will be 35 by the time the 2024 Games begin.
The San Antonio Spurs point guard sent a rally cry to his Australian teammates when the Games were postponed and hopes officials help hopefuls achieve their Tokyo dream.
The Boomers had hoped to breakthrough for their first international medal this year after finals heartbreak at the World Cup last year and the 2016 Olympics.
"I haven't looked at whether this will be my last or not," Mills said.
"The only thing I was looking at was trying to win an Olympic gold medal for Australia. That was my top priority and that's still the aim.
"We've got the dates for Tokyo next year, and there's another NBA season in between now and then, but the goal still remains the same.
"There won't be any other distractions getting in the way and that's the message for the entire Boomers team."
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The NBA lockdown has given Mills a chance to start planning for what will be one of the biggest years of his career.
The next NBA season will be the final year of his Spurs contract and he will hope to have his future finalised before landing in Japan to join the Boomers.
Winning a medal would be the icing on the cake after spending the past 12 years trying to reach the same goal.
Mills made his Olympic debut in 2008 as an unknown teen, but is now a leader of an Australian team capable of matching the world's best.
The Boomers showed that when they beat the United States for the first time last year. The Boomers were without Ben Simmons and the US were without their superstars, but it was a marker for success in the future.
That's something Mills says the Boomers are set up for, refusing to get distracted by thoughts of whether the delayed Olympics would hinder or boost their medal quest.
Andrew Bogut, 35, will be another year older. But Ben Simmons, 23, will have another season of NBA experience to his name.
"There are a lot of ways you can look at it, it's up to you. I'm always going to be positive, so it's an opportunity for guys to get healthy for an Olympic Games," Mills said.
"We've got some guys with bumps and bruises and injuries. It's another season to get experience. Bogut might be a year older, but his presence can still impact a team and a game and we can bring a team together to give us our best chance of getting a gold medal."
The Spurs are 12th in the western conference standings with the NBA yet to determine when, or if, the regular season will resume again.
If the NBA moves straight to playoffs, the Spurs will miss a spot in the post-season for the first time in 22 years. Mills, who won an NBA title with the Spurs in 2014, is the franchise's longest-serving player still on the roster.
"I haven't heard a lot about what's happening ... we're all in limbo a bit," Mills said.
"It was always going to be [a rebuilding period]. We understood that a time was going to come when we didn't have the crew we had for such a long time.
"That's where i sit as the longest tenured Spur is to have an impact on and off the court. I think we've done one hell of a job to be in a position we are because this is essentially a rebuilding time. We've got to lay it out as much is we can and represent the right way, too."