With the PBA celebrating its 50th anniversary on July 9, the league recently announced the 10 players who will join the league’s list of greatest players and bring the esteemed group’s number to 50. 

It was an ode to your dad’s favorite players and the favorite players of your dad’s dad. Players like Nelson “The Bull” Asaytono, Abe King Jr., and Manny Victorino finally got their due. Within that admired group as well were two names that may be familiar to you. 

There’s June Mar Fajardo, who at this point needs no introduction and could very well be the greatest PBA player of all time. 

There’s also Scottie Thompson, who is one of the stars of the league’s most popular franchise, the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings. The way he hustles and bustles for points, rebounds, and assists have endeared him to many and he’s pretty much given another dimension to Never Say Die when it comes to going all out on every possession. 

The list was not without its debates as the PBA’s nearly 50 year history has more than 50 players who deserve to be on that list. Some may just have to wait for their inclusion when the league turns 75 in 2050.  

Whether or not someone on the list deserves to be there is NOT the issue here nor is it whether or not a player should be included while he is still playing. It’s been a previous practice by the PBA and even the NBA, which had its own fair share of controversies. The point of contention is timing.  

Fajardo is an outlier in this case, considering he has nearly as many MVPs (eight) as fingers. The only person who could stop Fajardo from racking up accolades and titles could be himself and even then, his place among the league’s greatest players is already set in stone. 

Thompson is definitely one the finest players to have graced the PBA and is a shoo-in because he won a PBA MVP award (the league guarantees its season MVPs a spot in their Greatest Players’ list). His time will come when it’s all said and done, but right now, there are a handful of players that deserve to be there ahead of him. The names of LA Tenorio and Ranidel de Ocampo have been floated around in part because their time has come to be part of this special group. They’ve paid their dues and have nothing else to prove and so they deserve recognition for putting in the work and earning results. This isn’t a knock on Thompson, but his story is far from over. 

Moreover, the PBA may want to consider including imports in that honored group, especially since the line could be blurred with Justin Brownlee’s case. However, that could take some time given how more locals have still been left off the list and the league’s affinity for all things All-Filipino. 

Of course, this does not make the PBA’s decision a grave error; it’s simply a difference of opinions. The league put together a diverse group to select the 10 who were added to the PBA’s Greatest Players list and they had to make the difficult decision. The committee won’t be able to please everybody, but all things considered, this may have been one of their best options.  

When the NBA did its own 50 Greatest Players list, they included active players like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, and a young Shaquille O’Neal. O’Neal’s inclusion stirred the pot given how he was just four years into the league, but in hindsight, it was very much validated.  

The PBA also included active players in both its 25 and 40 Greatest Players lists, with Alvin Partrimonio, Johnny Abarrientos, Benjie Paras, Jimmy Alapag, Jayson Castro, and Asi Taulava, among others, joining the esteemed group while their stories were still being written.  

Recency bias tends to factor into these lists and when the league turns 75, we may see more of Fajardo’s and Thompson’s peers, but then there could also be some players yet to enter the league who could step in ahead of them.  

Nevertheless, creating a list of the greatest players is a difficult and controversial endeavour, so much so that finding a perfect list may be harder to find than Atlantis. The PBA did its best when coming up with 50 of its greatest players and while the debates may live on, these athletes’ legacies are set in stone.