Tommy Kuhse

Tommy Kuhse (born January 5, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for Rasta Vechta of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). He played five seasons of college basketball for the Saint Mary's Gaels before going undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft.

Early life Kuhse attended Mountain View High School in Mesa, Arizona, where he was a member of the varsity baseball and basketball teams. Kuhse stopped playing baseball after his junior season and shifted his focus entirely to basketball. During his junior and senior seasons, Kuhse was named second-team all-state. As a senior he was named city player of the year after averaging 21 points, 4 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 2 steals per game and leading Mountain View to the state quarterfinals. Kuhse received offers from small colleges around the Arizona and Southern California areas, though none were scholarship offers from Division I programs. Saint Mary's was one of the few D-I programs showing any interest in Kuhse, and he had a connection to the team's head coach, Randy Bennett, as Kuhse's father and Bennett were high school classmates. Saint Mary's did not have a scholarship available for Kuhse, but allowed him to walk-on to the program.

As a redshirt sophomore in 2018–19, Kuhse saw his role on the team expand dramatically. He appeared in all 34 of the team's games and was a starter in 27 of them, with his first coming in a December 1 game against Cal. Kuhse would be a regular starter from that point in the season forward, and finished the year with averages of 26.7 minutes, 6.2 points and 2.9 assists per game. The Gaels went 22–12 that season, but were 19–8 with Kuhse in the starting lineup. In the WCC tournament championship game against No. 1 ranked Gonzaga, Kuhse played all 40 minutes

As a redshirt junior in 2019–20, Kuhse once again played the lead point guard role in a backcourt alongside Jordan Ford. Kuhse, no longer a walk-on, became the team's leader. He started all 24 games in the pandemic-shortened season and led the team in minutes at 35.8 per game. Kuhse also shifted from playing a primarily facilitating role into a point guard who was looking to score. Kuhse averaged a career-best 12.8 points per game, second on the team. In a December 15 game against Eastern Washington, he set a career high with 34 points.

Professional career Kuhse went undrafted during the 2022 NBA draft, but within hours of the draft's conclusion Kuhse had agreed to participate on the Orlando Magic's Summer League team. Kuhse played very well for the Magic during the Summer League, averaging 17.3 points per game on 54% shooting from the field and 40% from three point range, along with 3.3 assists and 3 steals per game. His performance earned praise from numerous outlets for his production with the Magic.

On August 26, the San Antonio Spurs signed Kuhse to a contract that allowed him to participate in training camp and fight for a regular season roster spot. He was waived on October 10.

On October 24, 2022, Kuhse joined the Austin Spurs training camp roster. On February 27, 2023, Kuhse was waived by the Austin Spurs.

On March 6, 2023, he signed with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg of the German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL).

On June 14, 2024, he signed with Derthona Basket of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).

College statistics Season Team League 2017–18 Saint Mary's Gaels West Coast Conference 24 0 2.3 .444 .500 .500 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.4 2018–19 Saint Mary's Gaels West Coast Conference 34 27 26.7 .421 .340 .830 2.6 2.9 0.8 0.2 6.2 2019–20 Saint Mary's Gaels West Coast Conference 33 19 26.5 .376 .321 .686 3.4 3.8 0.7 0.1 5.9 2020–21 Saint Mary's Gaels West Coast Conference 24 24 35.7 .407 .275 .797 3.7 5.0 1.5 0.2 12.8 2021–22 Saint Mary's Gaels West Coast Conference 34 21 30.0 .494 .450 .808 3.7 3.7 0.9 0.2 12.2