Moala Delvalle Tautuaa Jr. (born April 30, 1989) is an American born Filipino-Tongan professional basketball player for the

San Miguel Beermen The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Magnolia ...

of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

(PBA). He was drafted first overall by the

TNT Tropang Texters The TNT Tropang 5G is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the PLDT, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990. The ...

in the

2015 PBA draft The 2015 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) rookie draft was an event which allows teams to draft players from the amateur ranks. The event was held at the Midtown Atrium, Robinsons Place Manila on August 23, 2015. From this draft on, the ...

High school and college career

Tautuaa attended high school at Claremont High School in Claremont, California. In his senior year at Claremont High, he averaged 21 points and seven rebounds per game. He suited up for

Chadron State College Chadron State College (CSC) is a public college in Chadron, Nebraska, United States. It is one of three public colleges in the Nebraska State College System. It practices open admissions. The school opened in June 1911, although a previous ins ...

, an

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

school. He led the CSC Eagles in scoring with 12.9 points a game and rebounding with 5.6 per game in his senior year. His 63.5 percent field goal percentage led the team and ranked second in the

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N ...

. During his career at CSC, he shot 62.6 percent (426–681) from the field to break the old mark of 61.9 percent that Elijah Collins set during 2001–05. He finished with 1,160 points, tying him for 17th all-time at CSC.

Professional career

ABL / PBA D-League

He applied for the

2012 NBA draft The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball A ...

but went undrafted. He then decided to resume his basketball career by playing as an import for the

Westports Malaysia Dragons The Kuala Lumpur Dragons are a professional basketball team based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that last played in the ASEAN Basketball League. They also played as the Blustar Detergent Dragons in the Philippines' PBA Developmental League in 2016. ...

in the ASEAN Basketball League. Initially discovered by former PBA player Pongky Alolor, he was introduced to KL Dragons' head coach Ariel Vanguardia during the latter's visit to San Francisco and was recruited to join the team. He became teammates and friends with PBA player

Justin Melton Justin Brian Melton (born April 7, 1987), popularly known as QuickMelt, Mouse, The Flying Minion, and Minion, is a Filipino-American former professional basketball player. He was drafted 13th overall by the San Mig Coffee Mixers in the 2013 PB ...

. He averaged 15.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 0.6 block for the Dragons, who started off the 2014 season with a 2–1 win–loss record. After his stint in the ABL, he processed his citizenship papers at the Bureau of Immigration of the Philippines to prove his Filipino lineage and applied for the 2014 PBA D-League Draft, where he was drafted first overall by

Cagayan Rising Suns The Cagayan Rising Suns were a basketball team owned by the family of Alvaro Antonio, governor of the Province of Cagayan from 2007 to 2016. The team was managed by daughter Criselda Antonio (incumbent mayor of Alcala, Cagayan) and coached by h ...

. He helped the Suns reach the Finals against the powerhouse

Hapee Fresh Fighters The Hapee Fresh Fighters was a basketball team owned by Lamoiyan Corporation that played in the PBA Developmental League (PBA D-League). The franchise began in the Philippine Basketball League from 1994 until the league became dormant in 2010. T ...

. He was then signed by the

Cebuana Lhuillier Gems The PBA D-League, or PBA Developmental League, is the official minor league of the Philippine Basketball Association. History The PBA D-League was conceptualized after the collapse of the proposed merger between the Philippine Basketball Leag ...

into a one-conference contract, where he spent the remainder of the season. He was the 2015 PBA D-League Foundation Cup MVP while playing for Cebuana Lhuillier and took them to the semifinals.

PBA

After spending a season in the D-League, he applied, along with 16 other Fil-Foreigners, for the

, according to the list released by the PBA on August 10, 2015. He, along with former NU Bulldog

Troy Rosario Jeth Troy Utanes Rosario (born January 20, 1992) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). College and amateur career Rosario played for two years at Techno ...

, was the consensus top pick leading to the draft day. On August 23, 2015, he was drafted 1st overall by the

in the rookie draft. On August 27, 2015, both he and newly acquired #2 pick

signed maximum three-year rookie contracts with Talk 'N Text worth

₱ The Philippine peso sign (₱) is the currency symbol used for the Philippine peso, the official currency of the Philippines. The symbol resembles a Latin script, Latin letter P with two horizontal strokes. It differs from the currency symbol u ...

8.5 million.

PBA career statistics

''As of the end of 2023–24 season''

Season-by-season averages

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TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

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, rowspan=2, 34 , , rowspan=2, 25.5 , , rowspan=2, .500 , , rowspan=2, .290 , , rowspan=2, .649 , , rowspan=2, 8.1 , , rowspan=2, 1.9 , , rowspan=2, .5 , , rowspan=2, .4 , , rowspan=2, 9.8 , - , align=left , GlobalPort / NorthPort , - , align=left rowspan=2, , align=left , NorthPort , rowspan=2, 38 , , rowspan=2, 31.2 , , rowspan=2, .499 , , rowspan=2, .321 , , rowspan=2, .670 , , rowspan=2, 7.5 , , rowspan=2, 2.9 , , rowspan=2, .7 , , rowspan=2, .2 , , rowspan=2, 14.0 , - , align=left ,

San Miguel San Miguel, Spanish for Saint Michael, may refer to: Places Argentina *San Miguel Partido *San Miguel, Buenos Aires * San Miguel, Catamarca * San Miguel, Corrientes * San Miguel, La Rioja *San Miguel Arcángel, a Volga German colony in Adolfo Al ...

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, 32 , , 19.1 , , .507 , , .293 , , .686 , , 4.6 , , .8 , , .3 , , .4 , , 9.0 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 50 , , 20.0 , , .559 , , .378 , , .542 , , 4.9 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , .2 , , 8.9 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 43 , , 18.2 , , .500 , , .372 , , .597 , , 4.2 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .5 , , 6.4 , -class=sortbottom , colspan="2" align="center" , Career , 310 , , 21.4 , , .524 , , .307 , , .607 , , 5.4 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , .3 , , 9.5

International career

In 2015, Tautuaa joined the Gilas Pilipinas 3.0 training pool as a practice player and went with the entire team to

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

to participate in a pocket tournament. He also saw action in the

2015 William Jones Cup The 2015 William Jones Cup was the 37th staging of William Jones Cup, a top-level international basketball tournament of FIBA Asia. The tournament was held in Taiwan from 29 August until 6 September 2015. All games were played in Xinchuang Gymnas ...

where Gilas won the silver medal. He would only be eligible to play for any

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

sanctioned tournament as an alternate naturalized player since he was not able to secure his Philippine passport before he turned 16 years old.

Player profile

Tautuaa is a versatile big man. He is considered a stretch "five" with ball-handling skills, range, passing abilities and someone who can rack up points, rebounds, assists, blocks, etc., not to mention his penchant for dunks, putbacks, chasing down loose balls and his uncanny basketball IQ.

Personal life

Tautuaa's father is Moala Sr. from the Pacific Island nation of

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

, while his mother is Romanita (''née'' Del Valle), a Filipina, who hails from

Taguig Taguig (), officially the City of Taguig (), is the List of cities in the Philippines, fifth-most populous city in the Philippines situated on the eastern shores of Metro Manila, the national capital region. It is a center for culture, finance ...

. He earned a degree in Criminal Justice, and can also speak

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

. He is often teased with the nickname "Pebbles".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tautuaa, Moala 1989 births Living people American men's basketball players American people of Tongan descent American sportspeople of Filipino descent Centers (basketball) Chadron State Eagles men's basketball players Competitors at the 2019 SEA Games Competitors at the 2021 SEA Games Filipino expatriate basketball people in Malaysia Filipino expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Filipino men's 3x3 basketball players Filipino men's basketball players Kuala Lumpur Dragons players NorthPort Batang Pier players Sportspeople from San Mateo, California Basketball players from San Mateo County, California Philippine Basketball Association All-Stars Philippines men's national basketball team players Philippines national 3x3 basketball team players Power forwards San Miguel Beermen players SEA Games gold medalists for the Philippines SEA Games medalists in 3x3 basketball SEA Games medalists in basketball SEA Games silver medalists for the Philippines TNT Tropang 5G draft picks TNT Tropang 5G players Claremont High School (California) alumni Sportspeople from Claremont, California Basketball players from Los Angeles County, California 21st-century Filipino sportsmen