AS San Miguel finds its way back on top of the PBA Philippine Cup, June Mar Fajardo is back too, as frontrunner for the Best Player of the Conference award.
The 6-foot-10 Fajardo emerged as leading contender for the highest individual award of the conference by compiling a 40.4 statistical points (SPs) by the end of the eliminations, where the Beermen came out as the No. 1-seeded team in the playoffs.
Fajardo posted averages of 17.5 points, a league-best 13.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists to stay on track of winning a second BPC plum in Season 49 after clinching the award during the Governors’ Cup.
During the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup, SMB's failed to make the playoffs, quashing Fajardo and Co.'s hopes of winning the title in back-to-back fashion.
San Miguel teammate CJ Perez crowds out Fajardo for the individual crown by placing second with 38.5 SPs, along with Robert Bolick of NLEX (37.6 SPs), Magnolia sophomore Zavier Lucero (37.3 SPs), and TNT forward Calvin Oftana (35.4sps).
All five are seeing action in the All-Filipino Cup playoffs.
Perez serves as the other half of the Beermen's 1-2 punch along with Fajardo, behind his league-best 23.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.3 assists. He's now trying to make another case for a BPC trophy after winning his first during the 2023-24 Commissioner's Cup.
Bolick is again making another run at his first BPC title, although his scoring average dipped at 18.3 points, but remains as the league's top assist man with a 7.2 average while also grabbing 6.7 rebounds per game.
Lucero for his part, is beginning to establish himself as one of the rising big men in the PBA today by leading Magnolia in scoring (18.9 points) and rebounding (8.0), while leading the league in block shots with a 1.5 average per outing.
Oftana has risen to become the consistent go-to-guy of the Tropang 5G in the absence of veteran injured leader Jayson Castro. The former NCAA MVP from San Beda averages 20.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.2 assists while trying to lead the telecommunication franchise to the first PBA grand slam in more than a decade.
Others landing in the Top 10 of the BPC standings are Jason Perkins of Phoenix at sixth spot (35.3sps), followed by the Converge duo of Justin Arana (34.6sps) and rookie Justine Baltazar, (34.6sps), Barangay Ginebra veteran Japeth Aguilar (34.2sps), and Northport's Joshua Munzon (32.3sps).
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