List of Philippine Basketball Association champions
The Philippine Basketball Association awards a championship trophy (or cup) to the winning team at the end of each conference (tournament).
To determine a champion for a conference, a double-round elimination (sometimes a classification) round is usually held. After the elimination (or classification) round, the playoffs would be held.
There had been a variety of ways the league conducted its playoffs,[1] such as:
- Single-elimination tournament
- The twice-to-beat advantage (The higher-seeded team needs to win only once in order to advance, while the lower-seeded team needs to win twice consecutively. This is basically a modification of the best-of-three series.)
- Round-robin (or double-round robin)
- Best-of-three series
- Best-of-five series
- Best-of-seven series
There are two types of conferences: All-Filipino or import-laden. The All-Filipino conferences are tournaments where the teams are prohibited from hiring a foreigner as an additional player. An import-laden conference is a tournament where teams are allowed to hire a foreigner (the "import") as an additional player.
Starting from the PBA's first conference, most Finals series are in a best-of-five format. The 1982 PBA Reinforced Filipino Conference is the first finals series that is best-of-seven. Starting the season after that, championship series in import-laden conferences are in a best-of-seven format, while all-Filipino conferences are best-of-five. Starting in 1989, almost finals series are in a best-of-seven format, excluding special conferences like the 1998 PBA Centennial Cup, or if the PBA is forced to shorten the season, like during the 2013–14 season, where the last two conferences were made into best-of-five series to make way for the Philippine national team's participation in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and 2014 Asian Games.
The winning team is said to be the champions of the conference. After each season, there would be no playoffs in order to determine a "season champion."
However, the teams which are both boldfaced and italicized, the Crispa Redmanizers (1976 and 1983), the San Miguel Beermen (1989), the Alaska Milkmen (1996) and the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers (2013–14), hold the distinction of winning all three conferences in one season and have the distinction of winning the "Grand Slam". Winning the Grand Slam is the equivalent of the "season championship," where the team is said to be the undisputed champion in the league.
The league previously holds a "battle for third place" playoff to determine the third place team in a conference. This practice was abandoned beginning the 2010–11 season.
Champions by season[]
1975–2010[]
2010–present[]
Starting the 2010 season, the third place playoff (popularly known as the "Battle for Third") was no longer held.
Champions by franchise[]
Championships won from conferences shaded in gray above, such as Mobiline's 1998 Centennial Cup and Añejo's 1988 PBA-IBA Championship titles are not included in the table below.
Franchise | Championships | Runners-up | Third places | Total trophies | Last championship |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
San Miguel / Petron / Magnolia / Gold Eagle / Royal | 27 | 15 | 15 | 57 | 2019 Commissioner's Cup |
Alaska / Hills Bros. | 14 | 17 | 12 | 43 | 2013 Commissioner's |
Magnolia / Star / Purefoods / San Mig Coffee / B-Meg / Coney Island | 14 | 17 | 1 | 32 | 2018 Governors' |
Crispa / Walk Tall | 13 | 7 | 4 | 24 | 1984 First All-Filipino |
Barangay Ginebra / Ginebra / Gordon's Gin / Tondeña / Añejo / Gilbey's Gin / St. George | 13 | 14 | 7 | 34 | 2020 Philippine |
Toyota | 9 | 9 | 3 | 21 | 1982 Open |
TNT / Talk 'N Text / Mobiline / 7-Up / Pepsi | 8 | 12 | 5 | 25 | 2021 Philippine |
Great Taste / Presto / N-Rich | 6 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 1990 All-Filipino |
Shell | 4 | 5 | 6 | 15 | 1999 All-Filipino |
Swift / Pop Cola / Sunkist / Diet Sarsi / Sarsi | 4 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 1995 Commissioner's |
Tanduay | 3 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 1987 Open |
Red Bull / Barako Bull | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 2005-06 Fiesta |
Rain or Shine / Welcoat | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 2016 Commissioner's |
Powerade / Coca-Cola | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 2003 Reinforced |
U/Tex | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 | |
Sta. Lucia | 2 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 2007-08 Philippine |
Northern Cement* | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1985 Reinforced |
Nicholas Stoodley (United States)* | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1980 Invitational |
Manila Beer / Beer Hausen | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | — |
Meralco | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | — |
Barako Bull / Burger King / Air21 / FedEx | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | — |
Noritake / Mariwasa | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | — |
Filmanbank | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | — |
Adidas (France)* | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — |
Emtex (Brazil)* | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — |
South Korea* | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — |
Bold denotes active franchise
- * Guest team
Championships by coach[]
Listed below are the coaches who won at least two PBA championships. Championships won from conferences shaded in gray above, such as Eric Altamirano's 1998 Centennial Cup and Rino Salazar's 1988 PBA-IBA Championship titles are not included in the table below. Both coaches otherwise would have won two titles each if those were included, instead of just one.
^ | Denotes coach who is still active |
* | Elected to the PBA Hall of Fame |
*^ | Active coach who has been elected to the PBA Hall of Fame |
Coach | Championships | Champion teams handled | Last championship |
---|---|---|---|
Tim Cone^ | 23 | Alaska, B-Meg/San Mig Coffee, Barangay Ginebra | 2020 Philippine (Barangay Ginebra) |
Baby Dalupan* | 15 | Crispa, Great Taste, Purefoods | 1990 Third Conference (Purefoods) |
Norman Black*^ | 11 | San Miguel, Sta. Lucia, Talk 'N Text | 2012–13 Philippine (Talk 'N Text) |
Jong Uichico | 9 | San Miguel, Barangay Ginebra, Talk 'N Text | 2015 Commissioner's (Talk 'N Text) |
Chot Reyes^ | Purefoods/Coney Island, Coca Cola, Talk 'N Text | 2021 Philippine (TNT) | |
Leo Austria^ | 8 | San Miguel | 2019 Commissioner's Cup (San Miguel) |
Yeng Guiao^ | 7 | Swift, Red Bull, Rain or Shine | 2016 Commissioner's (Rain or Shine) |
Tommy Manotoc* | 6 | U/Tex, San Miguel, Crispa | 1983 Open (Crispa) |
Dante Silverio* | 5 | Toyota | 1978 Invitational (Toyota) |
Ed Ocampo* | 4 | Royal Tru Orange, Toyota | 1982 Open (Toyota) |
Robert Jaworski* | Añejo/Ginebra/Gordon's Gin | 1997 Commissioner's (Gordon's Gin) | |
Turo Valenzona | 3 | Tanduay | 1987 Open (Tanduay) |
Siot Tanquingcen | Barangay Ginebra, San Miguel | 2009 Fiesta (San Miguel) | |
Ryan Gregorio | Purefoods | 2009–10 Philippine (Purefoods) | |
Derrick Pumaren | 2 | Sunkist | 1995 Commissioner's (Sunkist) |
Perry Ronquillo | Shell | 1999 All-Filipino (Shell) |
See also[]
- Philippine Basketball Association Finals Most Valuable Player award
Notes[]
- ^ For a discussion of the different formats, see Playoff format
- ^ ALASKA—TALK N TEXT BATTLE ROYALE BEGINS
References[]
- Philippine Basketball Association lists