10 Important Facts Must Know about the PBA Philippine Cup

Every sport has a competitive cup that is unique to it. The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) has three conferences in a season and the Cup is second to none in the Philippine Basketball Association conference. In fact, the Commissioner's Cup and Governor's Cup are far from being compared with the popularity and respect given to the Philippine Cup.

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PBA Philippine Cup History Highlights: PBA Philippine Cup History

The Philippine Basketball Association Cup has been held at the end of every year since 1975. Every year, twelve basketball teams play in the Philippine Cup. Emerson Coseteng, who owned the Mariwasa-Noritake Porcelainmakers, the Carrier Weathermakers, the Toyota Comets, the Seven-Up Uncolas, and the Presto Ice Cream, started the PBA in 1975.

The same year, the PBA Cup started for the first time. Before 1993, this tournament was called the 'All-Filipino Conference Cup.' It started in 1975.

The PBA Cup was called the PBA All-Filipino Cup from 1993 to 2003. But the first time it was called the Philippine Cup was in 2004. For this event, clubs can't hire imports or players from outside the country.

This is in line with what the Philippine Basketball Association says: no foreign players are allowed to play in its league. So, if you want to play in the PBA, you must become a naturalized Filipino citizen and then get picked up by a PBA team through the draft.

PBA History Highlights: Important facts to know about the PBA Cup

The PBA Cup since 1975 has seen a lot of interesting moments. We highlight the moments below.

• 1975: The inaugural season of the PBA was first called the All-Filipino Conference.
• 1975-1976: The league allowed lower-seeded teams to hire foreign players to fill out their rosters, the tournament was called an 'import-laced conference.'
• 1975-1976: After being called a conference with many imports in, the Cup was not played.
• 1977: Participating teams got restricted from using imported players or players from other countries in this cup.
• 1977: Crispa beat Mariwasa in the finals by 3-2 to win the first All-Filipino Conference.
• 1981: the Southeast Asian Games were held in Manila, so the Philippine Cup had to be skipped.
• 1982: the Philippine Cup competition was not held.
• 1984: the PBA Philippine Cup was held twice. The first one was called the First All-Filipino Conference, and the second one was called the Second All-Filipino Conference.
• 1992: The competition became known as the All-Filipino Cup.
• 2004: It was officially renamed 'The Philippine Cup,' which it has been called ever since.
• The San Miguel club has won the PBA Philippine Cup competition most times since it was formed, winning nine trophies.
• Only the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters and the San Miguel Beermen have won the PBA Cup for three consecutive times.
• The Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters won the cup three years in a row (2010–2011, 2011–2012, and 2012–2013).
• The San Miguel Beermen also won the PBA cup five years in a row (2014–2015, 2015–2016, 2016–2017, 2017–2018, and 2018–2019).

PBA Philippine Cup History Highlights: The Jun Bernardino Trophy

The trophy for the Philippine Basketball Association Cup is known as the Jun Bernardino Trophy. It was named to recognize Jun Bernardino's service as a commissioner for the PBA.

A design of the All-Filipino Cup, was in use from 1994 until 2002, before the Jun Bernardino trophy replaced it. On the other hand, the previous trophy was given to the Alaska Milkmen in 1998 along with the VFR Centennial Trophy as the winner of the 1998 Philippine Cup.

In that season, the Alaska Milkmen won the Philippine Basketball Association Cup by claiming victory in a best-of-7 series against San Miguel by a score of 4-3. The gold-plated Jun Bernardino Trophy has a 24-karat gold-plated rating, giving it a value of PHP 500,000.

The trophy is awarded to the team that wins the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup. The Philippine Basketball Cup winning team is awarded a miniature replica of the trophy. However, if a team were to win the PBA Philippine Cup three years in a row, they would be awarded the Jun Bernardino trophy instead of receiving a duplicate of the trophy.

San Miguel and the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters, after being a successful team, are the only team to have won and maintained possession of the original trophy. Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters was given the Jun Bernardino trophy in 2013, while San Miguel was presented the trophy in 2017.

PBA Philippine Cup Highlights: Best Player of the PBA Philippine Basketball

The PBA saw it fit that it is necessary to give an award to the best player of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup best player in 1994. Therefore, in 1994, the Philippine Cup's best player was given recognition and also given an award.

However, in determining the winner of this award, each player's performance, and impact, coupled with the player's stats throughout the competition is taken into account. It is worth to note this award is given to an individual, not based on his team.

This shows that even if a team wins the PBA Philippines Cup, there is no assurance or certainty that the best player in the tournament will come from the club. The first winner of the PBA Philippine Cup best player in 1994 was Jerry Codinera, a defensive player for Coney Island.

However, June Mar Fajardo dominates the PBA Philippine best player leaderboard, winning it for 6 straight years as a center for San Miguel Beermen.

PBA Philippine Cup Highlights: Conclusion

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup has a very rich history. This tournament has featured so many of the Filipino best basketballers. Moreso, the popularity the cup has gained all over the world has been great.

The record holders of the cup, Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters, and the San Miguel Beermen are yet in another final of the competition, and definitely one of the two teams will go home to add to their collections of trophies.

Let's keep our fingers crossed as we await for either Dragons or the Genbra will win the PBA Commissioners Cup this year.