Patty Mills, Lauren Jackson featured in new Rebel Sport mural by Smalls

Rebel Sport commissioned the mural of Canberra born and raised superstar Patty Mills and Canberra Capitals and Opals icon Lauren Jackson for its first "experience concept" store at Westfield Chermside, in Brisbane.

The store features "The Home of Basketball", where customers can shoot hoops against the backdrop of street art murals by Canberra artist James Small aka Smalls.

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Smalls, who has relocated to the Gold Coast but still works in his home town, was paired to the job by the company Book an Artist, coincidentally creating a trifecta of Canberra legends for the project.

The huge job took Smalls seven days to complete.

He used a spray paint for the detailed portraits and paint straight from the bucket for the background strokes.

Smalls said it was a "massive privilege" to capture "two GOATs [Greatest of All Time] of Australia sport".

"Rebel Sport chose the players, but I was definitely happy with their choice. Two legends of Australian sport with strong connections to Canberra," he said.

"I remember watching Lauren Jackson play for the Capitals as a kid, and knew Patty Mills and I went to the same college. I even used to mentor one of his cousins in my graffiti workshops, so there was these interesting but typical Canberra connections in the mix as well which made the project a little more special. Both players responded to my photos and were fans of the work, so that was extra rad."

Mills, 32, is gearing up to represent Australia at the Tokyo Olympics while retired Jackson, who turned 40 this month, represented Australia at four Olympic Games.

Smalls is also kicking goals, recently winning the $25,000 prize to design a mural for Manuka's Endeavour House.

A development application had been submitted for the mural, with a decision pending.

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