EYEING HISTORY ANEW. Cebuano June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer, seen here against two Alaska defenders, is on pace to the only player in the PBA to win five MVP awards./pba images
Cebuano June Mar Fajardo leading PBA BPC, MVP races
June Mar Fajardo is not done rewriting history.
After shattering Danny Ildefonso’s nearly 16-year-old record for most number of Best Player of the Conference awards, the jovial giant is on pace to become the only player in PBA history to have five MVP plums.
As of the end of the quarterfinals, Fajardo holds a big lead in terms of average statistical over the nearest contender in Stanley Pringle.
Fajardo has 29.6 average SPs across the Philippine Cup and before the start of the Commissioner’s Cup semifinals.
Globalport’s Pringle has 25.3 average SPs while Barangay Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar is at third with 23.6 average SPs.
Fajardo’s San Miguel teammates Arwind Santos, the 2013 MVP, and Alex Cabagnot are also in the top five of the MVP race.
Santos is at fourth with 23.4 average SPs and Cabagnot is at fifth with 22.0 average SPs.
And the MVP plum isn’t the only trophy Fajardo is on pace to win, the Best Player of the Conference award for the Commissioner’s Cup is also within reach.
Fajardo overtook Alaska’s Vic Manuel, who was at the top spot of the race the last time the PBA released the information early this month, in terms of average SPs.
San Miguel’s center has 38.77 average SPs through the end of the Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals while Manuel has 37.58 average SPs.
If Fajardo, who’s on his sixth year in the league, wins Best Player of the Conference, it would be his seventh award giving him two more trophies than Ildefonso did in his entire 17-year career.