ASI Taulava’s long, storied career officially comes to an end next week when NLEX retires his jersey in a formal ceremony at the Philsports Arena.
Team management made the announcement on Friday.
The ceremony takes place on Dec. 13 in the main game pitting NLEX against TNT, the same franchise which tapped the 6-foot-9 Taulava as its direct Fil-Am hire back in the 1999 season when it carried the name Mobiline.
READ Asi Taulava ties record in PBA longevity just months short of turning 50
The 50-year-old Taulava played his last eight seasons with the Road Warriors, where he made the Mythical Second Team in 2016.
In the Commissioner’s Cup last year, Taulava played a single game that allowed him to tie the great Robert Jaworski for the longest playing career ever in PBA history.
He has been in and out of the Road Warriors’ reserve list the past two seasons, but in his prime, the Fil-Tongan big man was considered one of the most dominant forces in the league.
He emerged MVP in 2003 for TNT when he gave the franchise its first-ever regular championship in the league by winning the All-Filipino conference.
It was the first and only league title for Taulava, but he amassed a number of individual achievements including being named in the PBA’s 40 Greatest Players.
He was a four-time member of both the Mythical First Team and Mythical Second Team respectively, hold the record for the most number of All-Star appearances at 17, named member of the All-Defensive Team three times, winner of the Best Player of the Conference (2003), a two-time All-Star MVP, a two-time scoring champion, and a member of the 5,000-point club and 2,000 offensive rebound.
Taulava also previously played for Coca-Cola, Meralco, and Air21, which later sold its franchise to NLEX.
He likewise played for San Miguel in the ASEAN Basketball League, where he won a championship and an MVP trophy to boot prior to his return to the PBA in 2014.
The evergreen big man served the national team, starting in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea all the way to the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship in Wuhan, China.
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