The Philippine Basketball Association Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) award given since the start of the league in 1975 to the best performing player of the season. The award is decided using criteria introduced since the 2011–12 season, which include accumulated statistical points, votes from media, players and the league's Commissioner's Office. The current holder of the award is June Mar Fajardo.
The season MVP is for the whole season, which has two to three conferences, including the regular season, the playoffs and the Finals, while there is a Best Player of the Conference award for each conference, and a Best Import award for conferences where imports are allowed to play.
June Mar Fajardo won the MVP award a record eight times, while both Ramon Fernandez and Alvin Patrimonio won the award four times. Benjie Paras remains the only rookie to have ever won the award to date, which he did during the 1989 season.
As with the other annual awards given by the league, the winner receives The Leo Trophy, which is named in honor of Leo Prieto, the first commissioner of the PBA who served from 1975 until his retirement in 1983.
Criteria
edit
The criteria used since the 2022–23 PBA season are as follows:[1]
- 45% average statistical points
- 30% press and media votes
- 25% players' votes
Statistical points (SP) are computed as follows:
- 1 SP for every point scored, rebound assist, steal and shot blocked.
- 10 bonus points for every game won where the player played up to the semifinals.
- 15 bonus points for every game won where the player played in the Finals
- Deduction of 1 SP for every turnover, 5 SP for every technical or flagrant foul without ejection, and 15 SP for any technical or flagrant foul that results in an ejection.
In addition, a Filipino player can only be eligible for awards if he played in at least 70% of his team's games.
MVP voting begins at the start of the Finals series of the last conference. All statistical points gathered from all levels of competition (elimination/classification round and playoffs) are included.
Previous criteria
editThe winner was selected by the following format (before 2006):
- 30% cumulative statistical points (points, rebounds, assists, blocks, turnovers etc.)
- 30% press and media votes
- 30% players' votes
- 10% four-man committee (representatives from the PBA Photographer's Group, SCOOP, the TV coverer and the Philippine Sportswriters Association)
With controversies with the selections, a new format was created starting at the 2006–07 season:
- 30% average statistical points
- 30% press and media votes
- 25% players' votes
- 10% TV coverer
- 5% Commissioner's Office
The criteria used since from the 2011–12 PBA season until the 2021 PBA season are as follows:[2]
- 40% average statistical points
- 30% press and media votes
- 25% players' votes
- 5% Commissioner's Office
Winners
edit| ^ | Denotes player who is still active in the PBA |
| * | Inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has been named MVP |
| Team (X) | Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won |
Multiple-time winners
edit| Total | Player |
|---|---|
| 8 | June Mar Fajardo |
| 4 | Ramon Fernandez |
| Alvin Patrimonio | |
| 3 | Bogs Adornado |
| 2 | Abet Guidaben |
| Danny Ildefonso | |
| Willie Miller | |
| Benjie Paras | |
| James Yap |
References
edit- ^ "Commissioner's Office no longer counts in PBA awards voting".
- ^ Dy, Richard (July 5, 2014). "After 'Best Player' upset, is June Mar Fajardo at risk of losing MVP honor as well?". Spin.ph. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
- ^ "Fajardo leads list of winners in PBA Leo Awards". PBA.ph. November 5, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
- ^ "Legend lives on as Fajardo wins record 8th MVP award". PBA.ph. August 18, 2024. Retrieved August 18, 2024.