THE legend of June Mar Fajardo continues to grow.
It seems like the mammoth big man from Cebu is bound to receive his fourth straight Most Valuable Player award in the Philippine Basketball Association as he leads the race by a mile.
Poised to erase his own record of three straight MVPs, Fajardo once again leads the pack this season, compiling an average of 38.58 statistical points throughout the three conferences in the cumulative statistical points standings released by the league yesterday.
With that and after leading San Miguel Beer to championships in both the Philippine Cup for the third straight year and the Commissioner’s Cup, Fajardo seems like a lock to claim yet another MVP award this season.
Should he do so, he will be the only player in league history to win four straight MVPs and at the same time, he will tie fellow legends Alvin Patrimonio and Mon Fernandez for most wins all-time.
Fajardo’s teammate Alex Cabagnot is a distant second in the race, finishing up with 32.96 SPs.
In third place is GlobalPort star Terrence Romeo, who had 32.1 SPs.
While Fajardo leads the MVP race for the season, he isn’t expected to win the Best Player of the Conference for the ongoing Governors’ Cup even though he has the lead as well since the Beermen were eliminated early in the quarterfinals.
For the Rookie of the Year, it is a tight race between prolific gunners Matthew Wright of Phoenix and Roger Pogoy of TNT KaTropa.
Wright leads the statistical race, compiling an average of 26.7 but Pogoy is not far behind with his 22.3 average.
However, voters are expected to be split between the two.
While Wright had been the producer of higher stats, Pogoy had also been consistent and had led the Tropang Texters to more success, including a finals stint in the Commissioner’s Cup and a pair of semifinals appearances in the Philippine and Governors’ Cup, this season.