June Mar Fajardo and Scottie Thompson have emerged as the top contenders for the highly-coveted PBA Season 47 Most Valuable Player award.
The San Miguel main man and Barangay Ginebra’s do-it-all guard placed 1-2 in the latest statistical rankings released by the league Thursday, making it a two-way race between the past and present league MVPs.
Fajardo, 33, kept his hold of the top spot with a total of 28.9 statistical points (SPs) based on stats at the end of the Commissioner’s Cup.
The Cebuano star has led the race since the Philippine Cup, where he won Best Player of the Conference honors before leading the Beermen’s reclamation of the crown at the expense of TNT, winning Finals MVP in the process.
But the league’s only six-time MVP is facing serious competition in Thompson, who leaped to no. 2 following the Kings’ conquest of the mid-season conference that saw the crowd darlings take down Bay Area in seven games.
The reigning MVP from Davao was also named BPC of the tilt, the second that he’s won in his career after last season’s Governors’ Cup.
He snatched the no. 2 spot from SMB guard CJ Perez, who fell to third place but remained very much in contention with a total SPs of 24.6.
Robert Bolick of Northport is at no. 4 with 23.2 SPS, while another Ginebra player in sophomore Jamie Malonzo barged at no. 5 with 21.9 SPs. The two young stars competed for the Commissioner’s Cup BPC plum.
Commissioner’s Cup Finals MVP Christian Standhardinger placed at no. 6 with 21.1 SPs, followed by Mikey Williams of TNT with 20.6 SPs.
Japeth Aguilar is the fourth Kings player to reach the Top 10 by placing eighth with 20.4 SPs, while Don Trollano of NLEX and TNT’s Roger Pogoy took the next two spots with 20.30 SPs and 20.28 SPs, respectively.
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