The PBA All-Star Game is an exhibition game hosted annually by the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), matching the league's star players using various formats. It is the featured event of PBA All-Star Weekend. The All-Star game was first staged at The ULTRA on June 4, 1989.
The starting lineup for each squad is selected by a fan ballot, while the reserves are chosen by a vote among the head coaches of the league's teams. If a selected player is injured and cannot participate, the league officials select a replacement. The head coaches of the teams that entered the season's first conference, the Philippine Cup, are chosen as the coaches of the teams in the All-Star Game.
Background
The annual All-Star Game was instituted in 1989 and has already evolved into different types of competition, more commonly in the following formats: Philippine national team vs. PBA All-Stars (last played in 2018), Rookies, Sophomores & Juniors (RSJ) vs. Veterans (last played in 2012), and North vs. South match-up (last played in 2019). The manner by which players to the All-Star Game varied through the years. Currently,[when?] the two coaches tapped to lead the two All-Star teams were the ones who selected their players but since the mid-2000s the starting five are selected through fan voting and the reserves would now be the ones chosen by the head coaches of all the PBA teams. For the 2005-2006 season, fans from the host city or province were given the choice to select the sixth man of each team. After each game, an All-Star Most Valuable Player (MVP) was chosen by writers covering the annual event.
Vergel Meneses had clearly stamped his mark on this mid-year festivities as he remains to be the only four-time All-Star MVP awardee collecting the award in 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2003. In its entire history, eight players have been named multiple winners of the All-Star MVP award namely, Meneses, Terrence Romeo (2015, 2017 and 2018), Benjie Paras (1994 and 1999), Asi Taulava (2004 and 2006), Jayjay Helterbrand (2005 and 2007), Arwind Santos (2013 and 2019), Jeff Chan (2013 and 2018), Matthew Wright (twice in 2017) and Japeth Aguilar (2019 and 2024).
James Yap currently holds the record for most number of All-Star Game appearances with 18.[1]
Types
The league has adopted various formats for the All-Star Game:
- Veterans vs. Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors (RSJ): The Veteran team consists of players who have played in the league for four or more years. The RSJ team consists of players who have played in the league for less than four years.
- North vs. South: The players' team is assigned according to their birthplaces, and in cases of players born outside the Philippines, on their parents' birth places. Players from Luzon play for the North All-Stars, while those from Visayas and Mindanao play for the South All-Stars.
- Philippine men's national team vs. PBA All-Stars: The Philippine team consist of PBA players from national pool with a naturalized player or a cadet player if any. The national team usually carries the name of its primary sponsor or its nickname. (e.g. Philippine Centennial Team, Powerade Team Pilipinas, Gilas Pilipinas)
- Team A vs. Team B: Two All-Star teams with no particular category are formed. This format was used in 1991 (Light All-Stars vs. Dark All-Stars) and 2003 (Commissioner's All-Stars vs. Governors' All-Stars).
- Since 2023, two All-Star teams are captained by the top two leading vote-getters, then they will pick the players from the list (wherein fans will vote up to 24 players) via draft for their team, similar to the NBA All-Star Game format from 2018 to 2023.
All-Star Game results
This is a list of each All-Star Game, the venue at which it was played, and the Game MVP. Parenthesized numbers indicate multiple times that venue, city, or player has occurred as of that instance (e.g. "Vergel Meneses (2)" in 1998 indicates that was his second All-Star MVP award).
| Year | Winning team | Score | Losing team | Host venue | Host city | MVP (PBA team) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Veterans | 132–130 | Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors | The ULTRA | Pasig | Elmer Cabahug* (Alaska) |
| 1990 | Veterans | 146–118 | Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors | The ULTRA (2) | Pasig | Samboy Lim (San Miguel) |
| 1991 | Light Team All-Stars | 127–120 | Dark Team All-Stars | The ULTRA (3) | Pasig | Alvin Patrimonio (Purefoods) |
| 1992 | South All-Stars | 108–105 | North All-Stars | PSC-NASA (4) | Pasig | Alvin Teng (San Miguel) |
| 1993 | North All-Stars | 149–129 | South All-Stars | Cuneta Astrodome | Pasay | Allan Caidic (San Miguel) |
| 1994 | North All-Stars | 133–124 | South All-Stars | Cuneta Astrodome (2) | Pasay | Benjie Paras (Shell) |
| 1995 | Veterans | 112–107 | Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors | Cuneta Astrodome (3) | Pasay | Vergel Meneses (Sunkist) |
| 1996 | Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors | 131–115 | Veterans | Cuneta Astrodome (4) | Pasay | Kenneth Duremdes (Sunkist) |
| 1997 | Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors | 126–123 | Veterans | Cuneta Astrodome (5) | Pasay | Bal David (Gordon's Gin) |
| 1998 | Philippine Centennial Team | 114–109 | PBA All-Stars | Cebu Coliseum | Cebu City | |
| Philippine Centennial Team | 107–92 | PBA All-Stars | Cuneta Astrodome | Pasay | Vergel Meneses (2) (Pop Cola) | |
| 1999 | Veterans | 91–85 | Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors | PhilSports Arena (5) | Pasig | Benjie Paras (2) (Shell) |
| 2000 | Veterans | 93–78 | Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors | University of San Agustin Gym | Iloilo | Vergel Meneses (3) (Barangay Ginebra) |
| 2001 | Veterans | 112–105 | Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors | Araneta Coliseum | Quezon City | Danny Ildefonso (San Miguel) |
| 2003 | Governors' All-Stars | 124–122 | Commissioner's All-Stars | Araneta Coliseum (2) | Quezon City | Vergel Meneses (4) (FedEx) |
| 2004 | South All-Stars | 130–128 | North All-Stars | Cebu Coliseum (2) | Cebu City | Asi Taulava (Talk 'N Text) Jimmy Alapag (Talk 'N Text) (co-winners) |
| 2005 | North All-Stars | 131–128 | South All-Stars | Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena | Laoag | Jayjay Helterbrand (Barangay Ginebra) |
| 2006 | South All-Stars | 122–120 | North All-Stars | Xavier University Gym | Cagayan de Oro | Asi Taulava (2) (Talk 'N Text) |
| 2007 | North All-Stars | 145–142 | South All-Stars | University of Baguio Gym | Baguio | Jayjay Helterbrand (2) (Barangay Ginebra) Willie Miller (Alaska) (co-winners) |
| 2008 | South All-Stars | 163–158 (OT)*** | North All-Stars | West Negros University Gym | Bacolod | Peter June Simon (Purefoods) |
| 2009 | PBA All-Stars | 97–89 | Powerade-Team Pilipinas | Araneta Coliseum (3) | Quezon City | David Noel** (Barangay Ginebra) |
| 2010 | North All-Stars | 133–130 | South All-Stars | Puerto Princesa City Coliseum | Puerto Princesa | Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine) |
| 2011 | North All-Stars | 133–129 | South All-Stars | Boracay Convention Center | Boracay | Marc Pingris (B-Meg Derby Ace) |
| 2012 | Veterans | 176–144 | Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors | Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena (2) | Laoag | James Yap (B-Meg) |
| 2013 | PBA All-Stars | 124–124 (Draw) | Gilas Pilipinas | Davao del Sur Coliseum | Digos | Arwind Santos (Petron Blaze) and Jeff Chan (Rain or Shine) |
| 2014 | Gilas Pilipinas | 101–93 | PBA All-Stars | Mall of Asia Arena | Pasay | Gary David (Meralco) |
| 2015 | North All-Stars | 166–161 | South All-Stars | Puerto Princesa City Coliseum (2) | Puerto Princesa | Terrence Romeo (GlobalPort) |
| 2016 | North All-Stars | 154–151 | South All-Stars | Smart Araneta Coliseum (4) | Quezon City | Alex Cabagnot (San Miguel) |
| 2017 | PBA Mindanao All-Stars | 114–114 (Draw) | Gilas Pilipinas | Xavier University Gym (2) | Cagayan de Oro | Troy Rosario (TNT) and Matthew Wright (Phoenix) |
| Gilas Pilipinas | 122–111 | PBA Luzon All-Stars | Quezon Convention Center | Lucena | Matthew Wright (2) (Phoenix) | |
| Gilas Pilipinas | 125–112 | PBA Visayas All-Stars | Hoops Dome | Lapu-Lapu City | Terrence Romeo (2) (GlobalPort) | |
| 2018 | PBA Mindanao All-Stars | 144–130 | Smart All-Stars | Davao del Sur Coliseum (2) | Digos | Baser Amer (Meralco) |
| Smart All-Stars | 152–149 | PBA Luzon All-Stars | Batangas City Sports Coliseum | Batangas City | Terrence Romeo (3) (TNT) | |
| PBA Visayas All-Stars | 157–141 | Smart All-Stars | University of San Agustin Gym (2) | Iloilo City | Jeff Chan (2) (Phoenix) | |
| 2019 | North All-Stars | 185–170 | South All-Stars | Calasiao Sports Complex | Calasiao | Arwind Santos (2) (San Miguel) Japeth Aguilar (Barangay Ginebra) (co-winners) |
| 2023 | Team Japeth | 140–136 | Team Scottie | City of Passi Arena | Passi | Paul Lee (Magnolia) |
| 2024 | Team Japeth | 140–140 (Draw) | Team Mark | La Salle Coliseum | Bacolod | Japeth Aguilar (2) (Barangay Ginebra) and Robert Bolick (NLEX) (co-winners) |
- * MVP from losing team
- ** MVP was Import Player.
- *** The two teams requested for an overtime period to be held.
Head-to-head results
| Format | Results |
|---|---|
| Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors vs. Veterans | Veterans lead, 7–2 in all-time series |
| North All-Stars vs. South All-Stars | North All-Stars lead, 9–4 in all-time series |
| PBA All-Stars vs. Philippine National Team | Philippine NT lead, 6–3–2 in all-time series |
References
External links
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