Former Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) scholarship holder Patrick Mills has been selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round of the US National Basketball Association’s (NBA) draft, announced Friday 26 June at Madison Square Garden, New York.

Mills is the second Indigenous Australian to join the US NBA league, the first being former AIS athlete Nathan Jawai, who was signed by the Toronto Raptors in July last year. As players in the NBA — generally considered the best basketball league in the world — Mills and Jawai are powerful role models who inspire other young athletes to achieve their sporting goals.

The 20-year-old Mills, who has been playing as the leading point guard for Saint Mary’s College of California, was the NBA’s 55th selection. In the lead up to the draft, US commentators highlighted his speed and explosive pick and roll on court.

As an NBA basketballer, Mills joins fellow member of the Australian Boomers Andrew Bogut. Bogut, also an AIS athlete, was the league’s first overall pick in 2004, and currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks. Both Mills and Bogut competed together for Australia at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Nathan Jawai also recently committed to the Boomers 2009 tours and is hoping for selection in the national team for next year’s world championships and the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Head coach of the AIS men’s basketball program Marty Clarke was thrilled with Patrick Mills’s success.

‘It’s a fantastic achievement for Patrick to be selected to play for the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA. [The Trail Blazers] are known for their youth policy which will be good for Patrick’s development in stepping up to this elite level,’ said Clarke.