Kahuku alumnus Tolu Smith joined rare company on Sunday when he logged 22 minutes for the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
Smith became just the second graduate of a Hawai‘i high school to appear in an NBA regular season game, joining Hilo High School alum Red Rocha, who last played for the Fort Wayne Pistons in 1957.
With their playoff positioning solidified heading into the season finale, Smith made his NBA debut on April 13 against the Milwaukee Bucks, scoring 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
Smith was born in Bay St. Louis, Miss. He moved to Kahuku prior to his senior season of high school basketball, graduating in 2018.
In the 2017-2018 season, Smith was the consensus Hawai‘i boys basketball player of the year.
After playing his freshman year of college basketball at Western Kentucky University, Smith spent the next four years at Mississippi State, scoring 1,666 points throughout the course of his college career.
Smith was not selected in the 2024 NBA Draft but latched on with the Pistons, playing on their Summer league team.
Although he signed with the Pistons on Sept. 17, 2024, he was waived one month later. On Oct. 29, he signed a contract with Detroit's G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise.
Smith, 24, signed a two-way contract with the Pistons on Jan. 6 but didn't appear in a game for the Pistons until making his debut against the Bucks.
As the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, Detroit will face the third-seeded New York Knicks in the first round of the upcoming NBA playoffs.
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
