The
Philippine Basketball Association
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...
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,
[For a discussion of the different formats, see ]Playoff format
There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...
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
The 1982 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Reinforced Filipino Conference was the first conference of the 1982 PBA season
The 1982 PBA season was the eighth season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
Board of governors
Execu ...
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
The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the tournament previously known as the FIBA World Championship. Hosted by Spain, it was the last tournament to be held on the then-current four-year cycle ...
and
2014 Asian Games
The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...
.
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
The Crispa Redmanizers were a multi-titled Filipino basketball team that played in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) from 1975 to 1984. It was one of the nine founding teams of the PBA, winning a total of thirteen PBA championships, i ...
(1976 and 1983), the
San Miguel Beermen
The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with the Magnolia Hotshots and Barangay Ginebra ...
(1989), the
Alaska Milkmen
The Alaska Aces were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association since 1986 PBA season, 1986 under the ownership of Alaska Milk Corporation (AMC) and the owner of 14 PBA championships, tied with the Barangay Ginebr ...
(1996) and the
San Mig Super Coffee Mixers
The Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots, or simply known as the Magnolia Hotshots, are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association. The team is owned by San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Inc., San Miguel Food and Bever ...
(2013–14), hold the distinction of winning all three conferences in one season and have the distinction of winning the "
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
". 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 from 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.
Bold denotes active franchise
:
* Guest team
Championships by player
The teams provided were the teams that the player were part of the championship roster.
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.
See also
*
PBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award
The Philippine Basketball Association
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first profession ...
Notes
References
PBA champions: 1970s
{{PBA
Champions
A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the Victory, victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and w ...
PBA