June Mar Fajardo leads PBA MVP race

June Mar Fajardo could be on his way to a record 8th MVP award as he leads the race at the halfway mark of the season.

The 34-year-old Fajardo, who won the coveted award from 2014 to 2019 and again in 2023, holds a 40.9 statistical points average anchored on 16.2 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks alongside 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals to lead all local players after the PBA Season 48 Commissioner’s Cup, where his Beermen emerged as champions after taking down Magnolia.

Barangay Ginebra big man Christian Standhardinger emerged as Fajardo’s closest pursuer with an SPs average of 35.7 built on 16.5 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 5.0 assists.

Fajardo’s teammate CJ Perez, the newly-minted Best Player of the Conference, is in third after posting 16.9 markers, 6.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 2.3 steals for 35.4 SPs.

NorthPort gunner Arvin Tolentino (35.1 SPs) and TNT sniper Calvin Oftana (34.1 SPs) come in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Fajardo was ineligible to win the BPC award in the recent conference as he was unable to play the minimum of 70 percent of the games at the end of the semifinals.

The 6-foot-10 Fajardo is still nursing a calf injury that he sustained during the Finals series against Magnolia, but is included in Gilas Pilipinas’ four-year program. He is expected to miss Gilas’ first two games in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers set this Thursday.

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA Integrated News