Is Fajardo the GOAT?

June Mar Fajardo was recently named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2017-2018 season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) ahead of stalwarts like Stanley Pringle, Japeth Aguilar, Sean Anthony and Scottie Thompson.

For me, framed in those terms, I’m comfortable considering Fajardo as the GOAT

This was Fajardo’s fifth straight MVP plum, giving him the most in PBA history.

He achieved it beginning his sophomore campaign in the 2013-14 season and made a lot of heads turn as the feat is something unprecedented in the annals of Philippine basketball.

Not surprisingly, this has brought to surface an interesting question: Is Fajardo the greatest of all time — or the GOAT of Philippine basketball?

Now, that question has been thrown around numerous times in the context of the NBA: Michael Jordan or LeBron James? How about Kobe Bryant or Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?

In the PBA context, however, that question has not been among the major talking points save for now, with Fajardo’s fifth MVP eclipsing the four titles held by Ramon Fernandez and another four by Alvin Patrimonio.

Now, as someone who grew up watching the PBA in the early 1990s up to the present, both Fernandez and Patrimonio are etched in my memory as among the finest players of their eras.

Both are actually in my top five all-time, too. And now here comes Fajardo to put a dent in that firmament of PBA greatness.

It’s not that Fajardo is undeserving. Of course, he deserves to be part of the PBA elite. Of course he’s deserving of being a five-time MVP. And, of course, one can make a completely plausible argument for him being the GOAT.

I mean, check out the numbers of the six-foot-10 Cebuano giant: Around 17 points, 12 rebounds, and two blocks per game while shooting 57 percent from the field in six PBA seasons.

For anyone, those would be absolutely amazing numbers.

For someone who isn’t even 30 years old, it’s absolutely bonkers.

In comparison, based on freely available statistics, Fernandez, the “El Presidente,” had around 18 points, eight rebounds and two blocks per game in his 22-year career while Patrimonio, the “Captain,” registered around 18 points and seven boards while shooting 53 percent from the floor in his 17 seasons.

Fernandez won 19 PBA titles and was PBA Mythical First Team 13 times while Patrimonio pocketed six PBA titles and 10 PBA Mythical First Team selections. As of now, Fajardo has six titles and five PBA Mythical First Team selections.

So, you see, numbers-wise, Fajardo deserves to be in that conversation, and his trajectory, to be completely objective, has him matching or even surpassing the other achievements and milestones of both Fernandez and Patrimonio pretty soon.

Is Fajardo the greatest of all time — or the GOAT of Philippine basketball?

For me, framed in those terms, I’m comfortable considering Fajardo as the GOAT.

He will continue to get better, and he will continue to garner accolades left and right. Don’t be surprised if San Miguel Beer wins a ton more titles, too, and all those will further add to Fajardo’s ever-expanding list of accomplishments.

By the time his PBA career closes, Fajardo will have had a stellar collection that maybe could only be approached by another young big man waiting in the wings — Kai Sotto of Ateneo de Manila.

Of course, that’s a whole new conversation altogether.

But if Fajardo can just consistently translate his PBA production to the international arena, that would be an even bigger “wow” moment for me.