Australian NBA basketball star Patrick Mills has been named the winner of the Gaze Medal for the Male International Player of the Year for 2010 at the MVP awards ceremony in Melbourne last night.

The award is the second time Mills has won the Gaze Medal, also having taken out the honour in 2008. 

Mills was the highest point scorer for the Boomers’ team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, averaging 13.8 points per game, as well as four assists. 

He played in the Boomers three-game series against Argentina, the Boris Stankovic Cup, as well as the Boomers international tournament in France and World Championship. 

Mills is the thirteenth individual to be awarded the Gaze Medal. He joins the likes of Phil Smyth, Andrew Vlahov, Luc Longley, Mark Bradtke and of course Andrew Gaze as recipients of the honour.

Mills was unable to accept the award as he is currently in the US playing with the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers and will therefore be presented with the Gaze Medal at the upcoming FIBA Oceania series for men.

The 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship for Men will be played as a three-game series between Australia and New Zealand in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney on September 7, 9 and 11 respectively.

Each contest will be played as a double-header with both the Australian Opals and Boomers going head-to-head with their New Zealand counterparts the Tall Ferns and Tall Blacks.

The Gaze Medal is named after one of Australia’s greatest sporting families.  The father and son combination of Lindsay and Andrew Gaze attended nine Olympics and eight world Championships between them. 

The Medal is voted on by all members of the senior national team after each game, with the player who receives the most votes each year being awarded the Gaze Medal. 

Basketball Australia