Nelson Asaytono and other PBA greats left out of the initial PBA’s 40 Greatest Players get another chance at being inducted into the elite list as the selection committee formed by the league gets the ball rolling with their deliberations on Thursday, Feb. 6, at the PBA office in Libis.

Former PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios, who was unanimously voted by the members of the selection committee to be their chairman, assured that the decision will go through a tedious, detailed, and objective deliberation to determine the deserving players.

“We know we can’t please everybody but we’ll observe a process for us to minimize objections. We’ll be objective rather than subjective,” said Barrios.

It can be recalled that the addition of players to the PBA’s 40 Greatest Players list back in 2014 drew some criticisms and objections from fans and basketball enthusiasts alike after some of the PBA greats were not named into the list.

The most notable of all was Asaytono who is a seven-time PBA champion, two-time Best Player of the Conference and many time Most Valuable Player contender.

Asaytono was actually one of the final cuts during the deliberation for the 40 Greatest Players and should now be in the leading considerations for the additional 10 players to be named as part of the league’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Aside from Asaytono, other big names left out of the list include Danny Seigle, Abe King, Jeff Cariaso, Olsen Racela, Dennis Espino, and Yoyoy Villamin.

Chances of these PBA greats to be finally named into the elite company get stronger as well after the committee has decided to not give MVP winners outright spots although they are automatically qualified as candidates.

Since 2014, however, only two players have won the league’s top individual award with San Miguel Beer June Mar Fajardo winning eight of the last nine and Barangay Ginebra Scottie Thompson being the only other player.

Fajardo, now a 10-time champion and record holder for most Best Player of the Conference and Most Valuable Player awards won, seemed to be a lock for the list.

For players who played in the recent years and have not won an MVP plum, LA Tenorio, Chris Ross and even Marcio Lassiter can seemingly make a case.

Tenorio was a 10-time champion, four-time Finals MVP, one-time BPC winner and the record holder for most consecutive games played at 744.

Similarly, Ross boasts almost the same accolades with 10 championships including the Philippine Cup five-peat. He is a two-time Finals MVP, one-time BPC winner and two-time Defensive Player of the Year awardee.

His teammate, Lassiter, aside from being part of SMB’s PH Cup five-peat, is also a 10-time champion and the league’s all-time three-point leader surpassing previous three-point king Jimmy Alapag last conference.