Fajardo on track to 8th PBA MVP award

MANILA, Philippines – June Mar Fajardo is on course for a record-extending eighth PBA Most Valuable Player plum.

After helping San Miguel Beer capture the PBA Season 48 Commissioner’s Cup crown, Fajardo stormed to the front of the race for the top individual crown with 40.9 average statistical points.

Even if he missed six games, the 6-foot-10 Fajardo’s strong performance highlighted by averages of 16.2 points, league-best 12.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks plus 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals put him ahead of the pack going to the second and last conference of the calendar.

In hot pursuit of Fajardo are Ginebra’s Christian Standhardinger (35.7 SPs) and CJ Perez, his newly minted Best Player of the Conference and Finals MVP teammate at SMB (35.4).

Standhardinger averaged 16.5 markers, 9.9 boards and 5.0 assists to make a case for the MVP accolade while Perez posted 16.9-point, 6-rebound, 3.6-assist and 2.3-steal averages in his breakout conference to put himself in the mix.

NorthPort’s Arvin Tolentino, the league’s premier local scorer with 22.4 points who also accounts for 5.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per games, sits at fourth with 35.1 SPs ahead of TNT’s Calvin Oftana (34.1 SPs built around 21.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists per gig).

Season 46 MVP Scottie Thompson of Ginebra (31 SPs) runs sixth followed by Meralco’s Chris Newsome (28.5), Jio Jalalon of runner-up Magnolia (28.4) and Thompson’s teammates Maverick Ahanmisi (27.60) and Jamie Malonzo (27.58).

Terrafirma’s top pick Stephen Holt took pole position in the Rookie of the Year derby with 24 SPs.

Holt (12.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists) leads NorthPort’s Cade Flores (22.4 SPs), Phoenix’s Ken Tuffin (20.1), fellow Dyip Kemark Carino (16.1), NorthPort’s Fran Yu (15.8) and Blackwater’s Christian David (14.3).