The Best Player of the Conference and Best Import Award appear headed to familiar faces as June Mar Fajardo of the San Miguel Beermen and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson of the TNT Tropang Giga have an inside track on the two individual awards at the conclusion of the semifinals.
Fajardo, who won the Best Player of the Conference of last season’s Philippine Cup, leads all locals with 44.8 statistical points (SPs) built on per-game averages of 21.0 points, 16.3 rebounds (league-best), 3.1 assists, and 1.0 block in 21 games. A distant second to The Kraken is NorthPort Batang Pier’s Arvin Tolentino, who normed a league-best 23.7 points on top of 8.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists to finish with 37.5 SPs despite NorthPort not making the playoffs.
At third is the NLEX Road Warriors’ Robert Bolick, who accumulated 35.9 SPS on averages of 19.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 8.2 dimes (tops in the league). Fajardo’s teammate, CJay Perez, is fourth with 33.9 SPS (17.5 pts, 5.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.4 steals), while Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s Japeth Aguilar (18.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists) and Scottie Thompson (13.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.2 steals) are tied at fifth with 32.2 SPS.
Can Fajardo Add to His Record Haul?
While the Best Player of the Conference has traditionally gone to players who made the finals, Fajardo’s big lead in SPs makes it likely that he will win this award for a record-breaking 11th time. The Kraken adding to his record haul will only underscore his dominance, one that has seen him hailed as the best player in 10 of the 29 previous conferences the PBA has played since Fajardo entered the league in Season 38 (2012–2013).
Since that season, only four players won the Best Player of the Conference despite their team not making the finals: Fajardo himself in the 2013–2014 Philippine Cup, Ranidel de Ocampo in the 2014 Governors’ Cup, Jayson Castro in the 2015–2016 Governors’ Cup, and Christian Standhardinger in the 2019 Governors’ Cup.
RHJ Headed for Second Best Import Plum
The Best Import race, on the other hand, has turned into a two-horse race between TNT’s Hollis-Jefferson and Ginebra’s Justin Brownlee, who led their teams to the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
RHJ, though, appears to have the inside track, finishing with 57.4 SPs built on monstrous per-game norms of 28.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 2.9 steals, and 1.9 blocks. In contrast, Brownlee accumulated 50.9 SPs after averaging 28.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.5 blocks.
Far behind are San Miguel’s EJ Anosike (30.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists) and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters’ Aaron Fuller (20.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists), who finished with 44.6 SPs and 41.8 SPs, respectively.
Hollis-Jefferson is the reigning Best Import of the PBA Governors’ Cup. Curiously, Brownlee has won Best Import of this conference only once (2021) despite leading Ginebra to four titles (2016, 2017, 2019, 2021).
