Patty Mills will have a side job as tourist guide when the Boomers face the star-studded Team USA squad in two pre-World Cup exhibition games in Melbourne in August.
Gregg Popovich, Mills' head coach at the San Antonio Spurs, will be at the helm of Team USA and the duo have had a few conversations about the Melbourne trip.
"It was nothing to do with basketball," Mills laughed during an interview with AAP.
"We talked about wine, restaurants and where I could take him."
Popovich, one of the NBA's great coaches with five championships, and Mills, who joined the Spurs in 2012, have become close as the point guard grew from an enthusiastic bench warmer to a veteran leader on the team.
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Popovich has shown plenty of interest in Mills' Aboriginal-Torres Strait Islander background, including surprising him and team-mates with an inspirational address before their successful 2014 NBA Finals victory about land rights crusader Eddie Mabo.
A trip with Popovich to Thursday Island might be on the cards.
"Hopefully," Mills said.
"That would be pretty cool if we had some time where I got to show him where I'm from or a small part of my culture."
The Boomers-Team USA series games will be played at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium on August 22 and 24 as a warm-up to the World Cup in China starting August 31 and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The immediate priority for Mills, Popovich and the Spurs is to continue to resurrect their season after a rough patch losing 12 of 17 games and the franchise facing the prospect of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1996.
The Spurs have won seven of their last 10 games to climb to ninth in the crowded Western Conference with a 20-win, 17-loss record.
The standings are so tight a few more consecutive wins could elevate them to fourth in the conference.
"We're in a good spot," Mills said.
"We have guys who are hungry to win a championship."
On Saturday the Spurs thumped the fourth-placed Los Angeles Clippers 122-111, with Mills scoring nine points.
Mills, 30, in his 10th year in the NBA and who signed a four-year, $US50-million deal in 2017, stepped into the Spurs' leadership role after the team lost franchise great Tim Duncan in 2016 and All-Stars Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in the off-season.
"I feel a responsibility to not only live up to expectations, but the standard of which the likes of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili have set for us," Mills said.
"Now they have gone I think their legacy will be here forever and it is important I make sure younger guys understand that so they can follow in the same tradition."
