MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Patty Mills will miss Australia's Olympic qualifying series in Oceania after being ruled out of a 12-man squad containing fellow NBA players Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova.
Mills was unavailable for matches in Europe against Slovenia and Lithuania due to a shoulder injury, and Australia coach Andrej Lemanis said that resulted in the San Antonio Spurs point guard being omitted from next month's two-game Olympic qualifier against New Zealand.
''As difficult as it is for us to leave Patty out of the team, at the start of our planning for this Rio qualification, the coaching staff agreed that it is vital that we undertake preparations for the Oceania Championships as a team,'' Lemanis said. ''The tour to Europe, playing against quality opposition, is critical in our preparations to beat New Zealand in August.''
Australia and New Zealand meet on Aug. 15 and 18, with the winner qualifying for next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Australia squad: David Andersen, Cameron Bairstow, Andrew Bogut, Ryan Broekhoff, Matthew Dellavedova, Dante Exum, Adam Gibson, Chris Goulding, Nate Jawai, Damian Martin, Brock Motum, Brad Newley.
