The 40 Greatest Players in Philippine Basketball Association History is a set of players chosen in 2000 and 2015 to commemorate the founding of 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 ...

. The first set, known as the 25 Greatest Players in Philippine Basketball Association History was awarded when the league celebrated its 25th anniversary in , during its silver anniversary TV special held at the

Araneta Coliseum The Araneta Coliseum, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Smart Araneta Coliseum, is an indoor multi-purpose sports arena that is part of the Araneta City in the Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines. Nicknamed as "the Big Do ...

on April 9, 2000. In 2015, 15 players were added to the list to commemorate the league's 40th anniversary. The awarding was held at the

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on April 8, 2015. The award was rechristened as FAB @ 40 (40th Greatest Players).

Criteria

The following criteria were used by a committee in selecting players for the first 25 players in the list: *The player must have played at least four (4) full seasons with the league. *The player must be a recipient of a major award (either an MVP or Rookie of the Year awardee or a member of the mythical selection, or all-defensive teams) *The player must have done a major impact with the sport and the league. *The player must have contributed towards the positive development of basketball in the country.

Criticism on the 15 additional players

The additional 15 players that was added in 2015 caused controversy because some were still young and active (Williams-33, Pingris-34) and still at the peak of their career. Though the selection is valid, some from the 25 original cast questioned why some of the retired PBA legends were not included in the list like Nelson Asaytono, Abe King, Yoyoy Villamin, Olsen Racela, and Jeffrey Cariaso. Many says that such players like Kerby Raymundo, Marlou Aquino and Marc Pingris should have not been included on the list. There were also the usual controversial picks such as Chito Loyzaga who played for popular teams like

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and were selected over some of the aforementioned players. This is despite the fact that Loyzaga was only a one time member of the Mythical Second team and played a supporting role to stars such as Robert Jaworski during his tenure with the team. Loyzaga himself was quoted to have suspected that he was being pranked when he heard the news of his selection.

Players selected in 2000

Players selected in 2015

Grandslam coaches

Before handing out the awards for the 25 PBA greatest players, the four

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 ...

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

es up to

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

were also recognized.

References

External links

The 25 all-time greatest players at PBA.ph
{{PBA 25 PBA