June Mar Fajardo
June Mar Sotto Fajardo is a Filipino professional basketball player for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association. He is also known by his nickname "The Kraken" for his extraordinary size and finesse against opposing big men.
Born in Compostela, he transferred with his parents to Pinamungajan at an early age, where he spent most of his younger and teen years. He played center for the University of Cebu Webmasters in the CESAFI and for the San Miguel Beermen in the ASEAN Basketball League before being selected as the first overall in the 2012 PBA draft by Petron Blaze Boosters. Despite his young age, Fajardo showed great potential and has been dubbed by local sports analysts as the Future of Philippine basketball. During his rookie season, he played for the national team and earned a silver medal at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship for Gilas Pilipinas. In his first year in the PBA, he was selected to the All-Rookie Team and Second Mythical Team. Since then, he became the first person in league history to win the PBA Most Valuable Player award in six consecutive seasons, which he won from 2014 to 2019. After suffering a career-threatening injury in 2020, he won three straight MVPs in 2023 to 2025 to extend his record for the most PBA MVP awards with nine.
He is a perennial member of Gilas Pilipinas in international competitions since 2013 and was also part of the team who won the gold medal in the 2022 Asian Games.
Professional career
Petron Blaze Boosters / San Miguel Beermen (2012–present)
Rookie year (2012–13)
He made his professional basketball debut in the 2012-13 PBA Philippine Cup in a 102–86 loss against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters where he finished with nine points and 13 rebounds and made only 5 of his 11 free throws.Fajardo struggled in the first two conferences of his rookie year, but he was remarkably improved in the third conference. In the semifinals of the 2013 PBA Governors' Cup against Rain or Shine, Fajardo scored 26 points in Game 2 who held up his own against opposing big men Beau Belga and J.R. Quiñahan. Petron went on to defeat the Elasto Painters, 3–1.
He made his PBA Finals debut against the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers in the 2013 PBA Governors' Cup Finals. In Game 4, Fajardo tallied 20 points and 26 rebounds in an 88–86 loss, the first time for a local player to achieve a 20–20 game since Eric Menk. The Boosters eventually lost to the Mixers in seven games.
Fajardo finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting, losing the award to number two overall pick Calvin Abueva. He was selected in the Mythical Second Team along with teammate Alex Cabagnot, Sonny Thoss, Cyrus Baguio and Marc Pingris.
Sophomore Year (2013–14)
As expected by many, Fajardo improved significantly by the start of the 2013-14 PBA Philippine Cup. He put together norms of 16.3 points, 14.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks, winning his first Best Player of the Conference award.When Petron reverted to San Miguel Beermen, Fajardo changed his jersey number from 22 to 15. The Beermen fell short in the quarterfinals of the Commissioner's Cup after losing to Air21 despite having a twice-to-beat advantage in the series.
In the third conference, Fajardo was a man on a mission. Fajardo scored 26 points and grabbed 27 rebounds, marking his third career 20–20 game with his 27 rebounds two shy of the league record during that time. He led the Best Player of the Conference race with averages of 21.8 points, 16 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 blocks, but his team lost to eventual champion San Mig Super Coffee in the quarterfinals. As a result of the Beermen eliminated from title contention, Fajardo ended up losing the BPC to Ranidel de Ocampo.
Despite lacking team success in his sophomore season, Fajardo was able to rake several awards in the season-ending Leo Awards. He was the 2014 PBA Most Improved Player and was selected as member of the All-Defensive and Mythical First Team for the first time in his career. In only his second season in the league, he was named the 2014 PBA Most Valuable Player.
2014–15 season
Fresh from his first PBA MVP award, Fajardo lorded the 2014-15 PBA Philippine Cup averaging 17.8 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks, including a season-high 36 points and 17 rebounds in a win against Columbian Dyip. He won his second consecutive Philippine Cup Best Player of the Conference award. The Beermen ended the eliminations with a 9–2 record, tied with Rain or Shine Elasto Painters for the first seed, thus earning a first-round bye. They swept TNT in the semifinals in four games before defeating Alaska in seven to win his first-ever PBA championship.He dominated once again in the third conference, the 2015 PBA Governors' Cup where he won his second Best Player of the Conference award for the season and his first for an import-reinforced conference, averaging 15.6 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks. The second-seeded Beermen defeated Rain or Shine in five games in the semifinals before asserting their mastery against Alaska by sweeping them in the Finals and win the Governors Cup which marks their 21st title in franchise history. Fajardo won his first Finals MVP along with his second championship with the Beermen.
He went on to win his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award and Defensive Player of the Year for the season, along with a Mythical First Team and All-Defensive team selections and his first ever Samboy Lim Sportsmanship Award.
2015–16 season
Fajardo continued his dominance in the following season after winning his first two championships. He secured another Best Player of the Conference award in the 2015-16 PBA Philippine Cup where he averaged 23.1 points, 14.4 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and 1.6 assists a contest during the elimination round, including a career-high 43 points in a loss against Alaska. Fajardo helped the Beermen finished second seed with a 9–2 record at the end of the elimination round. In the series-clinching win against Rain or Shine in Game 6 of the semifinals, Fajardo went down with a left knee injury which he suffered with seven minutes left in the third quarter on a rebound play against Jireh Ibanes. In Fajardo's absence, many stepped up including players on the bench and managed to squeak a come-from-behind win in Game 4 after being down 0–3 in their Finals rematch against Alaska. Fajardo made a surprise return in Game 5 where he quickly contributed 13 points and 4 rebounds while playing just 16 minutes. With Fajardo's assistance in limited minutes, the Beermen extended the series into a Game 7. San Miguel successfully completed their comeback by winning Game 7 where Fajardo went on to play 29 minutes, which he tallied team-high 21 points and 15 rebounds. The Beermen made history and became the first professional basketball team in the world to come back from an 0–3 series deficit, which was dubbed as the "BEERacle." Fajardo then called his injury a "blessing in disguise."Fajardo won his third PBA's Most Valuable Player award, tying the record of PBA legend Bogs Adornado. He was the first player to win the award in three consecutive seasons. He was also a member of Mythical First Team and received his second Sportsmanship Award.
2016–17 season
In the 2016-17 PBA Philippine Cup, Fajardo was the centerpiece of an almost-perfect campaign in the elimination round after helping the defending champions to secure the top seed with a 10–1 record where he averaged 19.9 points, league-high 16 boards and 1.8 blocks per game, earning himself his fifth overall Best Player of the Conference award and third straight in the season-opening conference. With this feat, Fajardo tied former teammate and mentor Danny Ildefonso as the only players in PBA history with league-high five BPC citations. In the semifinals, the Beermen dispatched rival TNT in seven games before defeating sister team Barangay Ginebra in five games to capture their third straight Philippine Cup title. Fajardo conspired with teammate and former MVP Arwind Santos in the title-clinching win, scoring 21 points each in Game 5 to capture the Perpetual trophy.With the help of Best Import awardee Charles Rhodes along with Best Player of the Conference Chris Ross, Fajardo aided the Beermen to capture the second seed and eventually win their second consecutive championship of the season by conquering the 2017 PBA Commissioner's Cup after defeating TNT in six games. Fajardo was pivotal in the semifinals against the Star Hotshots where he matched up with opposing import Ricardo Ratliffe. Ratliffe called Fajardo "the best player he've ever played in Asia" after the series where the Beermen defeated the Hotshots, 3–1.
After winning the first two championships of the season, San Miguel had the chance to capture their second Grand Slam which the franchise last won in 1989. At the start of the 2017 PBA Governors' Cup in a win against TNT where he scored 27 points and six rebounds, Fajardo strained his calf muscle and was out for a number of games while also opting out for national team duty in the FIBA Asia Cup. Despite the injury, Fajardo still managed to top the Best Player of the Conference race averaging 18.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 2.0 blocks. Due to import problems, the Beermen only managed to snag the sixth seed after a costly 101–104 loss against Meralco in the last game of the elimination round, giving them a twice-to-win disadvantage against eventual champions Barangay Ginebra which thwarted their Grand Slam bid in the quarterfinals. As the Beermen was out of title hunt, Fajardo lost the BPC award to rival big man Greg Slaughter despite leading the statistical points.
As a result of his sustained dominance throughout the season, Fajardo copped his fourth Most Valuable Player award in a runaway fashion which tied him with all-time greats Ramon Fernandez and Alvin Patrimonio for league-record four MVP awards. He was the quickest to win his fourth MVP and the only player to receive the award in four consecutive seasons. He was also selected as member of the Mythical First Team and All-Defensive Team.