June Mar Fajardo leads PBA MVP race after Commissioner’s Cup

San Miguel Beermen’s June Mar Fajardo. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–June Mar Fajardo has suddenly entered the picture in terms of the race for the Most Valuable Player midway into the PBA’s 48th season, with Barangay Ginebra’s Christan Standhardinger and San Miguel Beer teammate CJ Perez standing in his bid to claim the coveted award for an unprecedented eighth time.

Fajardo compiled 40.9 statistical points through the end of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup which the Beermen won at the expense of the Magnolia Hotshots last week, according to an article posted on the PBA website detailing the latest tally.

Standhardinger is a distant second with 35.7 SPs followed by Perez, the Commissioner’s Cup Best Player of the Conference and PBA Press Corps Finals Most Valuable Player, with 35.4 SPs. NorthPort’s Arvin Tolentino is fourth with 35.1 SPs followed by TNT’s Calvin Oftana with 34.1 SPs.

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The Beermen star was ineligible to compete for the BPC plum of the recent import-laden tournament after failing to appear in at least 70 percent of the games at the conclusion of the semifinals, the final cut before the nominees are announced.

Fajardo played just nine of 15 games through the semis, which accumulated to 60 percent.

But Fajardo showed up for all six games of the PBA Finals to end the first conference by appearing in 15 of San Miguel’s 21 matches for a 71-percent rate, thus putting him in the running for any season-ending awards.

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Statistics are just 45 percent of the criteria, with the rest to be determined through votes from the media (30%) and players (25%).

Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson, the only MVP outside of Fajardo’s run of seven in the last eight seasons starting in 2014, is sixth with 31.0 SPs, with Meralco’s Chris Newsome (28.5), Magnolia’s Jio Jalalon (28.4), and Ginebra’s Maverick Ahanamisi (27.60) and Jamie Malonzo (27.58).