PBA Analysis: Is this the beginning of the end of the Fajardo-era of the PBA?

 

There is no denying that the last decade of the PBA is dominated by Junemar Fajardo. The five straight MVP award shows that. 

I mean, try to remember the previous five MVP races and you will realize that Fajardo did not even have a neck-on-neck battle for the most prestigious individual award of the league.

Unfortunately, he failed to play last season because of an injury.

And this year, in their first three games, Fajardo is not looking like The Kraken that we used to know. He is still one of the biggest players in the league, but the monstrous moves that he used to take are not there anymore.

Maybe, he is not yet 100%. But, his injury was related to the legs and injuries related to the lower part of the body for giants are the worst.

In his first game against Meralco, he recorded 5 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist. He provided his best game against NLEX, where he ended up with 14 points, 10 rebounds but 4 turnovers.

And against Greg Slaughter and Northport, he ended up with 8 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block.

It did not help that the team needs to incorporate CJ Perez too into their system. 

The way I look at it, the MVP race is wide-open this year. A testament that Fajardo will not be the Kraken this season.

How about next year?

I am beginning to doubt it.