All roads in the north lead to Candon City in Ilocos Sur for the first Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) All-Star Game in two years and 33rd overall, or since it was institutionalized in 1989.

And for the first time in six years, the All-Star Game will be back to a North vs South affair, which will actually be the first in the post-Covid era.

Overall, this Sunday’s All-Star Game at the Candon City Arena will be the 14th North vs South format with the All-Stars from Luzon holding a 9-4 head-to-head edge over their Visayas-Mindanao counterparts.

North has actually won their last five duels — 133-130 in Puerto Princesa City in 2010, 133-129 in Boracay in 2011, 166-161 again in Puerto Princesa in 2015, 154-151 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in 2016 and 185-170 in Calasiao, Pangasinan in 2019, which was the highest scoring All-Star Game ever. Arwind Santos and Japeth Aguilar shared All-Star Game Most Valuable Player honors in that game.

Aguilar, the Barangay Ginebra veteran big man, will once again banner the Solid North All-Stars. It will be his 10th All-Star appearance, the most among all the players seeing action this year.

In the All-Star Game history, Aguilar will be the 14th player to play in at least 10 All-Star Games after James Yap (18), Asi Taulava (17), Alvin Patrimonio (16), Jerry Codinera, Dondon Hontiveros, Sonny Thoss and Santos (12 each), Jimmy Alapag and Gabe Norwood (11 each), Vergel Meneses, Ranidel de Ocampo, Marc Pingris and Dindo Pumaren (10 each).

Both Solid North and Solid South All-Star squads are each parading six players who are seeing action in their first-ever All-Star Game, the total 12 the most ever in the event’s history.

All-Star Game first-timers for the North squad are Ginebra’s Stephen Holt, Meralco’s CJ Cansino, Rain or Shine’s Adrian Nocum, and Converge’s Justin Arana, Justine Baltazar and Juan Gomez de Liaño.

De Liaño is the first rookie to see action in an All-Star Game since Phoenix’s Ricci Rivero in 2024 in Bacolod City.

Their All-Star Game newbie counterparts for the Solid South selection are Ginebra’s RJ Abarrientos, Rain or Shine’s Lenard Santillan and Caelan Tiongson, NLEX’s JB Bahio, and TNT Tropang 5G’s Rey Nambatac.

Completing the Solid North All-Stars are Converge’s Calvin Abueva (ninth All-Star appearance), San Miguel’s CJ Perez (third) and Don Trollano (second), Meralco’s Chris Newsome (third) and Rain or Shine’s Gian Mamuyac (second).

The rest of the Solid South All-Stars are San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo (eighth) and Jericho Cruz (fourth), TNT’s RR Pogoy (sixth) and Calvin Oftana (third), Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson (sixth) and NLEX’s Robert Bolick (third).

Coaching in the All-Star Game are the two coaches who steered their respective teams to the just-concluded PBA 50 Philippine Cup Finals in San Miguel’s Leo Austria, who will handle the North, and TNT’s Chot Reyes, who will coach the South.

Reyes will be making his seventh appearance as PBA All-Star Game coach and will tie Rain or Shine counterpart Yeng Guiao for second all-time most for coaching in the event behind Tim Cone’s 12. On the other hand, it will only be the fifth selection for Austria.

Before the North vs South All-Star Game, PBA All-Star Week will begin Friday with the Rookies vs Sophomores and Juniors Blitz Game and the Skills competitions featuring separate Obstacle Challenge events for the league’s bigs and guards and the Three-Point Shootout Contest, where Oftana is coming in as the defending champion.

Simply put, the PBA All-Star Week is back and it should be fun.