The selection committee just followed the previous selectors’ decision to automatically seed all league Most Valuable Players to the Greatest Players list, according to former PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios.

Barrios claimed that by adopting the criteria set by their predecessors for league MVPs, the selection committee, of which he was appointed head, virtually selected eight players for the ten additions to the league’s 50 greatest players.

According to Barrios, the selection committee members concurred that current MVPs Scottie Thompson of Barangay Ginebra and June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel should be automatically included, just as previous MVPs were.

“Inadapt ng original selection committee for the first 25 na ‘matic ang MVP,” stated Barrios during Wednesday’s made-for-TV ceremony that announced the next ten best players in PBA history. “Kasi kung ‘yung playing skills sa PBA, sigurado ‘yung MVP ninyo ay dapat lamang (na nasa greatest). ‘Yun ang nangyari.”.

“Immediately, sa 10 namin na iseselect, dalawa kaagad doon, nag-MVP eh. Walo na lang talaga ang pagpipilian ng committee,” Barrios remarked.

Fajardo won eight MVP awards from 2014 to 2019, 2023, and 2024 after the PBA picked its 40 best players in 2015. Thompson won his in 2021.
According to Barrios, the selection committee decided early on that players should only be evaluated based on their PBA career.

In addition to Barrios and Silverio, the selection committee included media personalities Ding Marcelo, Quinito Henson, Andy Jao, Al Mendoza, and Nelson Beltran; four-time MVP Ramon Fernandez; and former players Atoy Co and Allan Caidic.

Is Robert Bolick at the NLEX Road Warriors camp already agitated?

According to sources, the San Beda star guard is currently at a point in his PBA career when he wants to win a championship, and the Road Warriors haven’t appeared to be in the running for one.

“Berto wants to win a championship and right now, the team is nowhere near that goal. Miracles happen, but you see, we’re three to four players away from that, if you are to compare the team perennial championship contenders,” said a source.

The third team under the MVP banner has only made it to the semifinals once under Yeng Guiao in the more than ten years since obtaining the Air 21 franchise in the PBA, and they have not even come close to winning a championship.

This season has been no different under Jong Uichico, as the Road Warriors lost a playoff chance to go to the Commissioners’ Cup Final Eight and were eliminated in the Governors’ Cup quarterfinals.

According to sources, Bolick’s “uneasy relationship” with Uichico exacerbates the player’s unhappiness at a time when he should be entering his peak at age 29 and competing for Best Player of the Conference awards rather than a first PBA championship.

Right now, things haven’t gotten so bad that Bolick, who won three NCAA crowns at San Beda and a UAAP championship at La Salle as a bench player, has called for a trade out of NLEX.

Will Bolick be released by NLEX?

The player was the subject of a Magnolia bid a few weeks ago in a trade involving Jerrick Ahanmisi and Aris Dionisio. However, according to insiders, NLEX management is cool with the notion.

According to a source, the volume shooter’s most obvious destination if winning a championship is the top priority would be grand slam-seeking TNT, but higher-ups in the MVP organization disapprove of such actions.

Sources revealed that Bolick, who transferred from NorthPort to NLEX in a December 2023 trade, even had a heart-to-heart conversation with the team management just after NLEX’s practice on Monday.

The team has not been passive in player movements, but attempts to contact Bolick and NLEX management were unsuccessful.

Converge ultimately acquired Jhan Nermal after the team demoted him to its unrestricted free agent with rights to salary (UFAWR2S) list a few days earlier.