ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider On Cloud 9: June Mar Fajardo wins record-extending MVP award

On Cloud 9: June Mar Fajardo wins record-extending MVP award

Published Oct 5, 2025 04:38 pm

At A Glance

  • As if his feats aren't already beyond reach, June Mar Fajardo put his legendary career to an even higher pedestal after bagging his record-extending ninth PBA Most Valuable Player award on Sunday, Oct. 5 at the Novotel Hotel.
San Miguel Beer's June Mar Fajardo adds another trophy in his growing collection. (PBA Images)
San Miguel Beer's June Mar Fajardo adds another trophy in his growing collection. (PBA Images)
June Mar Fajardo wearing a wide smile and speaking in front of everyone with his deep voice and gentle demeanor while raising yet another trophy, through the years, has already become a norm at every Leo Awards.
And the Season 49 edition was no different.
As if his feats aren't already beyond reach, June Mar Fajardo put his legendary career to an even higher pedestal after bagging his record-extending ninth PBA Most Valuable Player award on Sunday, Oct. 5 at the Novotel Hotel.
It is Fajardo's third-straight MVP award after many thought he would no longer be in his dominant and beastly form after his six straight MVP streak was halted by a broken shin back in 2020 .
But just like how he overcame every defender on the post– be it the most wide-bodied local or towering imports – Fajardo simply powered through it and has now won nine of the last 10 such awards.
And as usual, Fajardo was simply head and shoulders above his competitors.
The 6-foot-10 center, for winning two of the available Best Player of the Conference awards, amassed a total of 3041 points – 1668 from statistics, 518 from player votes and media 855 votes.
He bested Robert Bolick of NLEX and Arvin Tolentino of NorthPort for the plum. Bolick came in second with 1914 points while Tolentino was third with 1901 points.
Joining Fajardo, Bolick and Tolentino in the Mythical Five are TNT's Calvin Oftana and San Miguel's CJ Perez.
The Mythical Second team, meanwhile, is composed of Scottie Thompson, RR Pogoy, Zavier Lucero, Japeth Aguilar and Justin Arana.
Barangay Ginebra's RJ Abarrientos, after helping his team to two Finals appearances last conference, ran away with the Rookie of the Year award besting Caelan Tiongson, Kai Ballungay and Sedrick Barefield.
He is the first King to win the award in 11 years or since Greg Slaughter won it in 2014.
Joshua Munzon was hailed as the Most Improved Player while Gian Mamuyac won the Samboy Lim Sportsmanship Award.
Munzon, Lucero and Fajardo also joined Stephen Holt and Glenn Khobuntin in the All-Defensive team.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.