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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Fajardo leads MVP race anew. With one conference left, who can stop the Kraken?

Fajardo leads MVP race anew. With one conference left, who can stop the Kraken?

Published Jul 8, 2026 02:37 pm

At A Glance

  • San Miguel Beer star June Mar Fajardo has once again emerged as the frontrunner for the league's highest individual honor based on the statistical points standings released by the PBA prior to the start of the season-ending PBA Season 50 Governors' Cup.

With just one conference left in the season, the race for the PBA Most Valuable Player award has a familiar name at the top.

San Miguel Beer star June Mar Fajardo has once again emerged as the frontrunner for the league's highest individual honor based on the statistical points standings released by the PBA prior to the start of the season-ending PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup.

Just like his dominant years when he bagged the MVP plum, Fajardo is lording it over in the statistical category, compiling 29.8 statistical points through the first two conferences, according to the data provided by PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III

A huge chunk of his average SPs, as expected, came during the Philippine Cup which comprises 40 percent of the season average SPs. 

Fajardo had 45.5 SPs during the All-Filipino Cup where he also won the Best Player of the Conference honors and led his team to a PH Cup title. He added 38.6 SPs in the midseason Commissioner’s Cup.

The SMB gentle giant is averaging 17.0 points, league-best 16.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists to go with 0.8 steals and 0.9 blocks.

Barring any injury that will force him to miss enough games to fall below the league's minimum requirement of appearing in at least 70 percent of his team's games, Fajardo is on track to win a record-extending and unprecedented 10th Most Valuable Player award.

But can someone really stop the Kraken?

At the forefront of those who wanted to challenge Fajardo for the league’s highest honor is RJ Abarrientos.

The Ginebra guard, like the SMB center, is already an automatic nominee for the MVP award after bagging the Commissioner’s Cup Best Player of the Conference award. Similar to Fajardo, he was also a catalyst to the Kings' title run in the mid-season conference.

The problem with the 5-foot-11 playmaker is he’s lagging behind in the statistical race, only sitting at sixth through the first two conferences. Abarrientos only has an average of 22.8 SPs with 30.3 SPs coming in from the PH Cup and 35.7SPs in the Comm’s Cup.

Following closely at the second spot in the statistical race is Robert Bolick of NLEX. The high-scoring combo guard has 26.7 SPs so far with 37.6 SPs from the All-Filipino Cup and league-best 38.9 SPs in the mid-season conference.

Bolick’s chances, however, lie if the Road Warriors can manage a deep run in the Governors’ Cup. A breakthrough title for NLEX, and perhaps a BPC award in the season-ending conference, would significantly boost Bolick’s chances.

At the third spot of the race is Converge star rookie Juan Gomez de Liano with 23.6 average SPs. He had 37.2 SPs in the PH Cup and then suffered a slight dip in the Comm’s Cup with 28.9 SPs.

Like Bolick, however, the chance for Gomez de Liano to topple Fajardo and become the second rookie-MVP in the PBA after Benjie Paras, is for him to have a huge leap in statistical averages and a title for Converge in the upcoming Governors’ Cup.

Related Tags

June Mar Fajardo RJ Abarrientos Juan Gomez de Liano Robert Bolick PBA Most Valuable Player MVP race
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