In the last four Philippine Cups, the PBA saw four different champions, headlined by the Season 48 winner and first-timer Meralco.
For all the talk on how the PBA needs to evolve, there’s one constant the league can always bank on to deliver:
The Philippine Cup.
It only makes sense, given the Philippine Cup is the league’s crown jewel. It’s quite simply the championship to win for all PBA teams.
[Related: PBA: Chris Newsome drills championship winner as Meralco dethrones San Miguel as Philippine Cup champion]
And in an ever-growing global basketball landscape, the Philippine Cup is the PBA’s unique selling point. Where does a professional basketball league feature a whole tournament with all locals?
Not in the NBA for sure, certainly not in the other major leagues surrounding our neighbors in East Asia like the rival B.League, KBL, and P.LEAGUE+. The PBA’s Philippine Cup is it.
Over the past four seasons, the Philippine Cup has encapsulated one key component fans have longed for the PBA to consistently have: parity.
In the last four Philippine Cups, the PBA saw four different champions, headlined by the Season 48 winner and first-timer Meralco.
[Related: Meralco lifer Cliff Hodge after winning first PBA title: ‘God’s given me everything that I’ve ever wanted’]
This level of title parity in the Philippine Cup is not new, one can say it’s actually the norm.
From 1986 to 2010, no PBA team repeated as All-Filipino champions. It was a feat once rarer than a Grand Slam.
The 2010s marked the dominance of the two greatest Philippine Cup champions the PBA have ever seen, with Talk ’N Text winning the Perpetual Trophy first with a trifecta from 2011-2013.
Not to be outdone, flagship rival San Miguel one-upped (or two-upped?) the Tropang Texters, with the Beermen winning five straight from 2015-2019.
But that period of perfection is the exception, albeit an exception that lasted a whole decade. Since San Miguel’s 5-peat, the Philippine Cup Finals have featured a new champion, and a fresh title pairing at that, in each of the next four iterations.
Ginebra and TNT gave basketball hope during extreme trying times in the 2020 Clark Bubble, with the Gin Kings eventually winning their first All-Filipino title in 13 years.
In a semi-bubble the following year, the Tropang Giga evoked a level of TNT dominance not seen in the All-Filipino in almost a decade, beating Magnolia for the franchise’s first Philippine Cup since hoisting the Perpetual Trophy in 2013.
PBA Season 47 featured a duel of flagships, with San Miguel unleashing a historic Game 7 fourth quarter to vanquish TNT in the Finals.
And just over the weekend to conclude Season 48, Meralco delivered a classic series and a breakthrough title win marked by a game-winner from its homegrown talent in Chris Newsome.
Like most, the PBA is not immune to problems. But the Philippine Cup is the one that the league can always count on to deliver.
It is the great equalizer, one that emphasizes the Filipino’s unique skill in basketball. It forces teams to build a culture of winning, relying not on merely stacking talent but making sure said talent actually fits and works.
[Related: ‘Time ng Meralco mag-champion’: Seven-time MVP June Mar Fajardo gracious in defeat as Bolts seize breakthrough PBA crown]
And as the electrifying Meralco Bolts now make it four different champions in four unique Finals, the Philippine Cup remains as the PBA’s crown jewel.
It is also the PBA’s saving grace, now and always.