Former UH Hilo Men’s Basketball student-athlete Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones will be one of 16 players on the Toronto Raptors roster set to compete in the upcoming NBA 2K26 Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
A member of Vulcans head coach Kaniela Aiona‘s inaugural recruiting class in 2020-21, the New Zealand native spent three seasons on the Big Island (2020-2023) collecting PacWest Conference Newcomer of the Year and PacWest Conference Freshman of the Year awards along with being named a three-time All-PacWest First Team selection in addition to three All-West Region accolades. He surpassed 1,000 career points as a Vulcan and still ranks No. 5 in program history for points (1,061), free throws (270) and rebounds (528).
Tait-Jones started and played in all but three contests and was the team’s leading scorer each of those three seasons, helping the Vulcans collect 41 wins while qualifying for the Pacific West Conference Championships postseason tournament each year — with the exception of 2020-21 during the shortened COVID-19 spring season.
Having grown up playing rugby and soccer in New Zealand before picking up basketball in the ninth grade, Tait-Jones credited the late Kenny McFadden, a New Zealand National Basketball League all-time great, as one of his many mentors in addition to Hilo native and former Vulcan player/coach Aukai Wong (2010-11; 2017-20) — who landed a tryout with the Toronto Raptors’ D-League team in 2015.
Following the 2022-23 season, Tait-Jones transferred to NCAA Division-I UC San Diego to wrap up his collegiate career, earning 2023-24 Big West Conference Newcomer of the Year and 2024-25 Big West Conference Player of the Year honors as the Tritons captured the Big West Conference Championship with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament South Region First Round.
Tait-Jones is the second student-athlete recruited by Aiona to appear on a NBA Summer League roster (now in its 20th year), joining Ross Williams (Detroit Pistons in 2024), who played for Aiona at Menlo College (2018-2020) before finishing his career at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
