The PBA selection committee insisted that Most Valuable Players June Mar Fajardo and Scottie Thompson are very much deserving of their spots in the league’s 50 Greatest Players list despite some arguing that they are still actively playing.

Fajardo and Thompson were the youngest among the 10 new additions to the elite list, getting outright recognition by virtue of their MVP awards. The SMB center is an eight-time winner of the top individual plum while the Ginebra do-it-all guard won the award in 2021.

“Ina-adapt ng original na selection committee sa first 25, automatic yung MVP. Kasi kung ang (basehan) mo ay yung playing skills sa PBA sigurado ‘yung MVP niyo ay dapat lamang (na kasama),” said selection committee chairman and former PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios.

“Immediately dun sa sampu namin ise-select dalawa agad don yung nag MVP so walo na lang talaga yung pagpipilian ng committee,” he added.

PBA great Allan Caidic, who was also part of the selection committee, said it’s also a logical decision to already include the MVP in the list considering that it is named as the ‘Greatest’.

“Pumili tayo at may pangalan na PBA greatest players kapag hindi mo sinama ang PBA sa 50 greatest para namang… it’s very logical answer, di ba?” said Caidic.

“Ang nakikita ko lang dilemma dito is yung 49th season MVP siya yung nag cutoff. He will wait for another awarding,” he added.

Not a few expressed their sentiments in social media, believing that the two, more particularly Thompson, was picked too early with some fans believing it could have been guys like Olsen Racela or LA Tenorio named first to the elite group.

Columnist and long-time television panel Quinito Henson, who was also part of the committee, however, insisted that by becoming MVP, it automatically qualified Fajardo and Thompson to the elite list.

“If you are one of the MVP, you really have to be one of the greatest. And as Allan Caidic earlier mentioned, dito sa ating selection of the 50 greatest, it doesn’t have to be na you are retired. ‘Yung mga retired players dun napupunta sa Hall of Fame,” said Henson.

“They don't have to be retired. You can even be playing but so long you are an MVP that means you’re one of the greatest kasi bihirang bihira ka makakuha ng MVP,” he added.