Sweet, sweet sixth?

MANILA, Philippines — Will “The Kraken” keep his stranglehold on the top individual award in the PBA and set yet another league record?

San Miguel behemoth June Mar Fajardo looks poised for an unprecedented sixth MVP coronation when the league holds the PBA Leo Awards on March 1.

Fajardo has made a strong case for the coveted plum with his solid outing in 2019, helping San Miguel win two of the three conferences in PBA Season 44.

The Cebuano ace plucked  his sixth consecutive Best Player of the Conference trophy in the Philippine Cup – a league standard – where he averaged 22.2 points, 12.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game in leading the Beermen to a five-peat in the all-Filipino tournament.

Performance in the season-opener carries much weight as 40 percent of stats from this conference will be used to determine the winner of the season MVP.

The SMB superstar followed this up with a stellar showing as the Beermen annexed the Commissioner’s Cup. Fajardo logged 16.4 ppg, 11.5 rpg, and 1.4 bpg in this title drive in the import-flavored mid-year joust, finishing runner-up to TNT KaTropa’s Jayson Castro in the final tabulation for the BPC.

Fajardo and the Beermen fell short of their grand slam bid, bombing out in the quarterfinals of the Governors’ Cup, but the 6-foot-10 stalwart was a rock with 18.8 ppg, 13.6 rpg and 1 bpg, and wound up No. 2 to NorthPort’s Christian Standhardinger in the BPC race.

Fajardo, Castro and Standhardinger, as BPC winners, contend for the Leo statuette.

Super rookie CJ Perez of Columbian Dyip may get in the race for the Mythical Selection after a breakout debut which saw him land in the shortlist of candidates for the BPC twice. 

Perez ranked No. 2 in statistical points in the second conference but placed fourth overall after the votes, his bid stymied by the Dyip’s failure to make the playoffs. It was essentially the same story on the Governors’ Cup, where the former Lyceum standout got second spot in SPs but settled for fourth in the final tabulation.

Stanley Pringle of newly minted Governors’ Cup titlist Barangay Ginebra could also be in the mix. The Fil-Am finished third in the Philippine Cup BPC derby when he was still with NorthPort and ranked No. 6 in stats points in the season-ending meet, later dishing out an impressive showing in the Gin Kings’ ascension to the throne.

The PBA is set to hand out the awards right before tipping off hostilities for the league’s 45th season at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.