San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo is on track for another milestone.
The Cebuano superstar enhanced his bid to extend his reign as the “King” of the PBA after topping the Statistical Points race at the end of the Governors’ Cup semifinals.
Fajardo, who established a record last season when he became the first player to win three straight MVP plums, has accumulated an average 38.58 SP in the race for the top individual award this season.
The winner of the season MVP will be known in the PBA Leo Awards on Oct. 20, before Game 4 of the Finals between Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Meralco at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Another win would enable Fajardo to join Ramon Fernandez and Alvin Patrimonio in the elite club of four-time winners.
Fernandez, now a board member at the Philippine Sports Commission, bagged MVP plums in 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1988, while Patrimonio, now the team manager of Star, did the trick in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997.
Fajardo has a huge lead over second running Alex Cabagnot (32.96).
Other SMB players in the top 10 are Arwind Santos (fifth, 30.97), Chris Ross (8th, 30.40) and Marcio Lassiter (10th, 29.55).
Fajardo, the Philippine Cup Best Player of the Conference, and Ross, the BPC recipient in the Commissioner’s Cup, are outright candidates for the MVP derby together with the BPC winner in the Governors’ Cup.
Completing the top 10 in the MVP race are GlobalPort’s Terrence Romeo (32.01), TNT KaTropa’s Jayson Castro (31.52), Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar (30.85), GlobalPort’s Stanley Pringle (30.63) and Alaska’s Calvin Abueva (30.11).
Aside from the MVP, the Leo Awards will also hand out other winners like the Mythical Teams, Rookie of the Year, Sportsmanship Award, Most Imporved Award, and All-Defensive Team.