Austin J. Mills discovered his passion for content creation by accident.
For much of Mills’ senior season (2015-16) as a basketball player at Baylor, he trained in preparation for an overseas career after college. One night, he was in the gym with visiting friends, and they suggested he post the deep 3-pointers he was practicing on social media.
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They recorded him casually draining half-court shots, and then he posted the video to Instagram and YouTube. It went viral on Instagram.
“The numbers just kind of flew,” Mills said. “I was like, ‘What is happening?’ … I remember the first kid on campus that said ‘I saw your video’ when I was walking around. And I was like, ‘OK, I need to keep doing this.'”
At first, Mills was skeptical of social media being a full-time job. Content creation was still in its nascent stages at that time. But as his audience continued to grow — and brands started reaching out to him — Mills realized he had a future as a social media star.
“I knew I was onto something and kind of just ran with it,” he said.
Mills, a full-time content creator and a host for the NBA and E!, now has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, 75,000 followers on TikTok and 75,000 followers on YouTube. Many are tuning in to his trick shots on the court. Off the court, Mills has expanded to also become a broadcaster, DJ, realtor and business owner.
InEpisode 5 of Season 2 of “Stargazing,”The Athletic’s NBA culture podcast, Mills discussed playing college basketball at both Pepperdine and Baylor, going viral for trick shots, working with the NBA, what the league’s players are like off the floor and the pros and cons of being an influencer, among other topics.
Editor’s note: Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
How did trick shots lead to you connecting with the NBA? What was that moment like for you? That’s a dream job for a lot of people.
Yeah, very crazy situation how that happened. Social media wasn’t really popping yet; it wasn’t really a business yet. So, I created these videos, and I had a random employee from the NBA slide in my DMs, which also really wasn’t a thing at the time. They just messaged me — and I wasn’t really sure if it was the NBA or not, because it wasn’t like the official account. … They reached out and said, “We want to do something for the NBA Combine in Chicago.” It was actually perfect timing, because this is, like, right after I graduated, so I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go play overseas professionally or go pursue another job. But this was the best alternative. I went and just tried it in Chicago, and it worked really well. I just continued to work with them over time.
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What appeals to you about hosting? Why did you choose that over going overseas for basketball?
I grew up a huge fan of Ryan Seacrest, Michael Strahan, Bob Barker. I just used to watch a lot of those shows as a kid. People always kind of laugh at me when I say, “Oh, I watch ‘The Price is Right.’ I watch the Food Network.” I think I was always just kind of like an old soul in a younger body. I love that concept and the idea of TV hosts and producing shows. So, I always had a passion for that and still do. I always say that the Ryan Seacrests, the Michael Strahans, the Ellen DeGenereses of the world are people that I look up to and aspire to be.
What’s the best thing about being a content creator? And what’s the worst thing?
I mean, obviously, perks are just being able to connect with tons of people (and) with great brands, go to great events, those sorts of things. We see all the highlights of what it’s like to be an influencer. But I think on the flip side, it’s also a lot of content creators, influencers, are getting bad stigmas because of certain people in that world. There’s just a lot of creators now. Some people just don’t have the best look. I think people need to realize how much time and effort actually goes into this, especially when you’re doing a wide variety of creating content for yourself, creating content for brands, creating content that puts you in a good light. There’s a lot of people that don’t really care about how they look in certain lights — and I really do. So, a combination of those two things.
Also, reading comments is tough sometimes. You get great comments, and you get negative comments. You’re not going to be able to please everyone. So, I would say that that’s one of the harder parts, for sure.
You tested out the 3-point competition at All-Star Weekend and posted a score of 26. If they added a content creator into the mix as a way to make it more interesting, how do you think you would do?
I definitely think it would be a cool concept to add a creator or a specialist to these sorts of contests. The dunk contest, for example, I think is something that the creator or the specialist — like Chris Staples, for example — would win. I mean, no one can beat him; he’s dunking for a living. So, I think it’d be interesting just to see that one year.
When it comes to 3-point shooting, I think it’s really interesting. I mean, I would obviously prepare and put a lot of time into it. I didn’t have that when I was in Utah. I kind of just jumped out there. The altitude makes a difference, and I don’t really work out and train like I used to, so by the time I’m getting to the second-to-last rack, I’m exhausted. People don’t realize how tiring that 3-point contest is. If I had some time to prepare, I think it would make a huge difference. But also, it’s a lot easier to say that when the lights aren’t on and shining on you (and) with all those people on national television. So, it could be a totally different story. But I think if I had some time to prepare, it would really help.
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You’re close to a bunch of NBA players: Royce O’Neale, Taurean Prince, Donovan Mitchell, Kevin Huerter and Domantas Sabonis, just to name a few. As someone who hangs out with a lot of these guys off the court, what’s the biggest misconception of NBA players?
I think that a lot of people forget that they’re just normal human beings. I think because they’re on TV and because they’re, like, these big figures in sports, people just kind of say whatever. And we laugh a lot of times because will look at their DMs or see the messages that they get of people, like, cussing them out, because they ruined their parlay (bet) or things like that. People don’t realize how nuts they would go if someone randomly DM’d them. Like, the average person, if someone else randomly DM’d them and was cussing them out, they would have a hissy fit. I think a lot of people forget and don’t realize that they’re just like normal people who live pretty normal lives and have families they’re trying to put food on the table for.
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Do you have a dream job? I’ve seen you mentioning maybe a late-night show or a morning show, but then also potentially having a Food Network show. Is there something you’re aiming for?
I always say that the No. 1 goal for me would be to host my own morning, daytime or nighttime talk show. I think that’s always been my goal to be able to produce and host a show like that. Similar to Ellen DeGeneres: I think her show is absolutely incredible. I think the fact that she’s able to entertain people but also give back to people would be the coolest thing to me. I love that feeling of making somebody feel happy and being able to have some sort of impact on someone’s life, whether that’s a donation or opening doors for someone else. I’m a big, big advocate, a big fan of that.
Looking back, what is one piece of advice that you’d give to someone hoping to follow your career path?
Sounds pretty cliché, but I would say just go do it. One thing that I used to do, in terms of wanting to have my own show, would be to create show decks and ideas for people. But in today’s world, ideas aren’t enough. You either have to go create a proof of concept or just go do it on your own. That’s one thing that I did for the E! show. I just went out and created a pilot on my own. I kind of knew the concept that they wanted. I just went out and created a full version of a pilot for the show, and they loved it enough to pick me up as a producer and a host. If I created a deck for them, it wasn’t going to be enough for them to actually see it in front of them and be able to see what I’m like behind the camera. So, if I were to give advice to anyone, it would just be whatever that is that you want to do, just do it. Create it. Put it out there in the world, and just continue to run with it. It’s not going to happen overnight, so you got to keep pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, and just make it happen.
(Photo: Courtesy of Austin J. Mills)
Jovan Buha is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Los Angeles Lakers. Before joining the company, Jovan was an NBA editor at ESPN.com. His prior stops also include ESPN Los Angeles, FOX Sports and Grantland. Jovan is a Los Angeles native and USC alum. Follow Jovan on Twitter @jovanbuha
