June Mar Fajardo

The second-seeded Beermen defeated Rain or Shine in five games in the semifinals before asserting their mastery against Alaska by sweeping them in the Finals and win the Governors Cup which marks their 21st title in franchise history.

Fajardo won his first Finals MVP along with his second championship with the Beermen.

He went on to win his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award and Defensive Player of the Year for the season, along with a Mythical First Team and All-Defensive team selections and his first ever Samboy Lim Sportsmanship Award.

Fajardo continued his dominance in the following season after winning his first two championships.

June Mar Sotto Fajardo (born November 17, 1989) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

He is also known by his nickname "The Kraken" for his extraordinary size and finesse against opposing big men.

Born in Compostela, he transferred with his parents to Pinamungajan at an early age, where he spent most of his younger and teen years.

He played center for the University of Cebu Webmasters in the CESAFI and for the San Miguel Beermen in the ASEAN Basketball League before being selected as the first overall in the 2012 PBA draft by Petron Blaze Boosters.

Despite his young age, Fajardo showed great potential and has been dubbed by local sports analysts as the Future of Philippine basketball.

He made his professional basketball debut in the 2012-13 PBA Philippine Cup in a 102–86 loss against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters where he finished with nine points and 13 rebounds and made only 5 of his 11 free throws.

Fajardo struggled in the first two conferences of his rookie year, but he was remarkably improved in the third conference.

During his rookie season, he played for the national team and earned a silver medal at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship for Gilas Pilipinas.

In his first year in the PBA, he was selected to the All-Rookie Team and Second Mythical Team.

He is a perennial member of Gilas Pilipinas in international competitions since 2013 and was also part of the team who won the gold medal in the 2022 Asian Games.

In the semifinals of the 2013 PBA Governors' Cup against Rain or Shine, Fajardo scored 26 points in Game 2 who held up his own against opposing big men Beau Belga and J.R. Quiñahan.

Petron went on to defeat the Elasto Painters, 3–1.

He made his PBA Finals debut against the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers in the 2013 PBA Governors' Cup Finals.

In Game 4, Fajardo tallied 20 points and 26 rebounds in an 88–86 loss, the first time for a local player to achieve a 20–20 game since Eric Menk.

The Boosters eventually lost to the Mixers in seven games.

Fajardo finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting, losing the award to number two overall pick Calvin Abueva.

He was selected in the Mythical Second Team along with teammate Alex Cabagnot, Sonny Thoss, Cyrus Baguio and Marc Pingris.

As expected by many, Fajardo improved significantly by the start of the 2013-14 PBA Philippine Cup.

He put together norms of 16.3 points, 14.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks, winning his first Best Player of the Conference award.

When Petron reverted to San Miguel Beermen, Fajardo changed his jersey number from 22 to 15.

The Beermen fell short in the quarterfinals of the Commissioner's Cup after losing to Air21 despite having a twice-to-beat advantage in the series.

In the third conference, Fajardo was a man on a mission.

Fajardo scored 26 points and grabbed 27 rebounds, marking his third career 20–20 game with his 27 rebounds two shy of the league record during that time.

He led the Best Player of the Conference race with averages of 21.8 points, 16 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 blocks, but his team lost to eventual champion San Mig Super Coffee in the quarterfinals.

As a result of the Beermen eliminated from title contention, Fajardo ended up losing the BPC to Ranidel de Ocampo.

Despite lacking team success in his sophomore season, Fajardo was able to rake several awards in the season-ending Leo Awards.

Since then, he became the first person in league history to win the PBA Most Valuable Player award in six consecutive seasons, which he won from 2014 to 2019.

He was the 2014 PBA Most Improved Player and was selected as member of the All-Defensive and Mythical First Team for the first time in his career.

In only his second season in the league, he was named the 2014 PBA Most Valuable Player.

Fresh from his first PBA MVP award, Fajardo lorded the 2014-15 PBA Philippine Cup averaging 17.8 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks, including a season-high 36 points and 17 rebounds in a win against Columbian Dyip.

He won his second consecutive Philippine Cup Best Player of the Conference award.

The Beermen ended the eliminations with a 9–2 record, tied with Rain or Shine Elasto Painters for the first seed, thus earning a first-round bye.

They swept TNT in the semifinals in four games before defeating Alaska in seven to win his first-ever PBA championship.

He dominated once again in the third conference, the 2015 PBA Governors' Cup where he won his second Best Player of the Conference award for the season and his first for an import-reinforced conference, averaging 15.6 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks.

He secured another Best Player of the Conference award in the 2015-16 PBA Philippine Cup where he averaged 23.1 points, 14.4 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and 1.6 assists a contest during the elimination round, including a career-high 43 points in a loss against Alaska.

After recovering from a major injury he suffered in 2020, he won the MVP award again for the seventh time in 2023 to extend his record for the most career MVP awards in the PBA.