Early years Tabuse, who was born in
Yokohama and grew up in what he calls "a sports family", began playing basketball at the age of nine, because he was not good at
baseball and not interested in
soccer. He attended
Noshiro Technical High School in
Akita Prefecture, where he led his team to national championships all three years he was there and lost only a single game. After graduation from high school in March 1999, Tabuse chose to enroll at
Brigham Young University-Hawaii for its English as an International Language program. Tabuse's first attempt at making it to the NBA made the headlines in Japan, and drew large media attention. On September 27 of that year, Tabuse joined the
Denver Nuggets' training camp, but he was waived on October 24, However, he was waived by the Suns on December 16, 2004, after playing in four games and rejoined the Jam for the remainder of the ABA season. Suns assistant coach
Marc Iavaroni said of Tabuse: "I liked his energy, I liked his courage." Those four games with Phoenix ended up being Tabuse's only playing time in the NBA throughout his professional basketball career. His fourth and final game in the NBA was played on December 15, 2004, in a 108–86 win over the
Utah Jazz. Tabuse only played for two minutes and recorded no stats. In
2005, Tabuse signed with the
Los Angeles Clippers, but was waived before the start of the regular season. That fall, Tabuse appeared on a limited edition cover of
NBA Live video game in Japan, even though he did not play a single NBA regular season game. That year, he was drafted by the
Albuquerque Thunderbirds of the
NBA Development League (D-League) and averaged 6.5 points and 4.0 assists in 34 games before he was waived on March 16, 2006.
Michael Cooper, former NBA player and Tabuse's coach with the
Albuquerque Thunderbirds, said of him, "He automatically changes the game because of his quickness and distributing the ball. He's the best fundamental player I've seen around in a long time." In 2006, Tabuse decided to forsake an opportunity to play with the Japanese national team in the world championships that took place between August 19 to September 3 across five cities in Japan, and instead play with the Dallas Mavericks' summer league team. In November 2007, Tabuse was cut by the Bakersfield Jam before the 2007–08 season. On December 8, 2007, Tabuse was acquired by the
Anaheim Arsenal of the D-League, and he made his debut on December 9 against the Bakersfield Jam, scoring four points and adding three assists in almost 13 minutes of play. For the 2007–08 season, Tabuse averaged 4.5 points, 1.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 39 games. In July 2008, Tabuse joined the
New Jersey Nets' squad in the Orlando Pro Summer League.
Return to Japan In August 2008, Tabuse signed for
Japan Basketball League side
Link Tochigi Brex. Tochigi's head coach
Mitsuhiko Kato was in charge of the basketball club of
Noshiro Technical High School when Tabuse played for the school. In April 2009, Tabuse was named to the 22-man roster for the
Japan national basketball team. The team played at the FIBA Asia Championship for Men. In May 2009,
ESPN reported that Tabuse would leave the national team after receiving an invitation by the
Dallas Mavericks to compete in their summer camp. In 2010, his team won the JBL Basketball League championship game. Tabuse was named Finals MVP. Tabuse's team would later win their second Japanese League championship in 2017 under the rebranded Japanese Professional Basketball League. Tabuse continues to play basketball professionally into his forties. == Career statistics ==