His work off the court to create opportunities and break down barriers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth in Australia through basketball has earnt him a nomination for the NBA Cares season-long community assist award.

He took out the February award and in turn earnt himself a nomination for the season-long award for his founding of Indigenous Basketball Australia, for his efforts in launching the 'We Got You' campaign to eliminate racism, exclusion and discrimination in Australian sport, and for organising a $750,000 donation from nine Australian NBA players in wake of the country's bushfires.

IBA provides pathways for Indigenous children to play basketball and in February it held the first-ever Indigenous Community Basketball League for players 14 and under across eight locations. In addition to the first-ever National Indigenous Basketball Tournament in the Gold Coast next month.

Mills told the Spurs media as the third Indigenous Australian in the Boomers, it was something he wished was not the case.

"I started to always thing that ... me giving back to my people within basketball was something that I just had to do. I was that little boy one time looking up to role models and seeing that relation of them achieving something so great ... the representation is one of those things that to start somewhere they gotta be able to see someone doing it," he said.

"So for me to know that I was the third Indigenous Australian to represent my country at an Olympic Games and World Championships that was something that I wished I played on the Australian team with someone that had a background like myself to be able to even more carry the flag, so to speak."

Mills is one of 10 nominees, alongside DeAndre' Bembry, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Larry Nance Jr., Josh Richardson and Russell Westbrook.

He also stated a silver lining through COVID-19 was the creation of the IBA.

"There was a great opportunity ... to really knuckle down and try and create something back home and that's where Indigenous Basketball Australia was born and created," he said.

"[It's] a pathway for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to be able to learn and grow through this basketball pathway to get to this level of professionalism and achievements so that we have more representation at that elite level, both men and women."

To vote for Mills visit cares.nba.com, voting closes June 19.