Standing 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) tall and weighing 245 pounds (111 kg), Taulava is considered by many to be one of the greatest and most dominant Filipino basketball players to ever play the center position in the PBA.
[1] In 1997 Taulava, a 6 foot 9 inch center from Tonga, along with several Filipino-foreign cagers bannered Blu Detergent in the PBL, where he showed some promise.
Taulava led the Detergent Kings and Tia Marias to the semi-finals but failed to lead his team in the finals due to severe bleeding and insomnia.
2003 was a fruitful year for Taulava when he led the Phone Pals to the All-Filipino Championship while being named as the Best Player of the Conference.
At season's end, he became the first Fil-foreign cager since Great Taste's Ricardo Brown in 1985 to win the Most Valuable Player Award.
Taulava, along with teammate Jimmy Alapag, was named as the co-MVP of the All-Star Game held in Cebu City.
In 2006–2007, the Phone Pals reached the semi-finals during the Philippine Cup but lost to the Barangay Ginebra Kings in six games.
[2] Asi's numbers and style of play was then rejuvenated with the new team,[3] lifting the Tigers from wildcard to quarterfinals, but eventually losing to Alaska, 2–0.
On March 29, 2008, in an out-of-town game in Panabo City, Davao del Norte, Taulava tossed in seven points, including a short stab with 11:11 left in the third quarter which made him the 58th member of the PBA's 5,000-point club.
The 2003 MVP awardee was part of the South team’s First 5 alongside Kelly Williams, Eric Menk, Cyrus Baguio, and James Yap.
On September 22, 2010, he was traded to the expansion team Meralco Bolts in exchange for Jason Misolas and Khasim Mirza as part of a three-team deal with the Barako Bull Energy Boosters.
[5][6] When asked upon the center's arrival to the new team, coach Ryan Gregorio said: "Asi (Taulava) is a great welcome addition for us.
[9] In his first game of the year, Taulava recorded a season high with 23 points and 10 rebounds but the Bolts eventually lost to Ginebra, 115–98.
In the 2010–11 season, Taulava was not conceded full playing time and averaged career lows in almost every major statistical category, but still proved to be one of the focal points of Meralco's offense.
After leading the Bolts for two seasons, he decided to leave the organization and declined a two-year contract extension worth maximum salary.
In a surprising upset, Air21 made their first semifinals appearance in franchise history, after beating the second-seeded Beermen with the knockout game ending in two overtimes.
[13][14] However, they were beaten by the eventual champions San Mig Super Coffee Mixers in their semifinals series that extended to Game 5.
His strong performance during the season also made him one of the candidates for the MVP award, which was ultimately won by June Mar Fajardo.
Bothered by financial problems, the Air21 Express was acquired by expansion team NLEX Road Warriors before the start of the 2014–15 season.
He was part of the country's third-place finish in the William Jones Cup tournament behind Passing Lane Sports of the United States and host, Chinese Taipei.
Despite Taulava's tremendous performance as Center, the team failed to pass the preliminary round, which was considered the "group of death", winning only one game against China and losing to eventual champion Iran and Jordan.
Along with Kelly Williams, Taulava was granted the permission to play for Smart Gilas for the 2010 Asian Games in November.
In January 2011, Taulava declared his availability for Smart Gilas to represent the country at the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship, held in Wuhan, China.
The episode happened in the third quarter of the match; with less than 20 seconds remaining in the period, Taulava suddenly went down on the floor in pain after Yoong Jing Kwaan grabbed and squeezed his private parts.