The 2019 PBA season was the 44th season 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 league continued to use the three-conference format, starting with the Philippine Cup. The Commissioner's Cup and the Governors' Cup are the second and third conferences in the upcoming season. Due to the major adjustments in the league calendar, the start of the league's 44th season was set to January 13, 2019. This was the first time since 2003 that the league opened their season in January or February. The PBA Leo Awards will be held during the opening ceremonies of the 2019 season while the 2018 PBA draft is set on December 16. The schedule is also affected by the Philippine national team's participation in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and the Southeast Asian Games. The 2019 PBA All-Star Game was played from March 29 to 31, 2019 at Calasiao, Pangasinan.

Executive board

* Commissioner:

Willie Marcial Wilfrido "Willie" O. Marcial (born October 12, 1961) is a Filipino sports executive who serves as the tenth commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association. He became the league's officer-in-charge after Chito Narvasa resigned on December 31 ...

* Chairman:

Ricky Vargas Victorico "Ricky" P. Vargas (born February 24, 1952) is a Filipino executive who served as the 10th President of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) from March 5, 2018, after winning over Jose Cojuangco Jr. in a court-ordered elections held on ...

(Representing

TNT KaTropa The TNT Tropang Giga is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990. The fra ...

) * Vice-Chairman: Richard Bachmann (Representing Alaska Aces) * Treasurer: Raymond T. Zorrilla (Representing

Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters The Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters is a professional basketball team owned by Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc., which debuted in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in the 2016 Commissioner's Cup. The franchise began after the com ...

)

Teams

Arenas

Like several

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

-centric leagues, most games are held at arenas within

, either the

Smart 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 Dom ...

or the

Mall of Asia Arena The SM Mall of Asia Arena, also known as the Mall of Asia Arena or the MoA Arena, is an indoor arena within the SM Mall of Asia complex, in Bay City, Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. It has a seating capacity of 15,000 for sporting events, a ...

, and sometimes, in the

Ynares Center The Ynares Center is an indoor sporting arena located along the Circumferential Road in Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines. The facility, which has a seating capacity of 7,400, is managed by the Provincial Government of Rizal. Aside from hosting bask ...

Antipolo Antipolo, officially known as the City of Antipolo ( fil, Lungsod ng Antipolo), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Rizal, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 887,399 people. It is the m ...

. Games outside this area are called "out-of-town" games, and are usually played on Saturdays. Provincial arenas usually host one game, rarely two; these arenas typically host only once per season, but a league may return within a season if the turnout is satisfactory. Typically, all playoff games are held in Metro Manila arenas, although playoff and Finals games have been seldom played in the provinces.

Main arenas

Out-of-town arenas

Highlighted are playoff games. These games were played outside the Philippines:

Transactions

Retirement

*January 4, 2019:

Jett Manuel Jett may refer to: People by surname * Brent W. Jett Jr. (born 1958), American astronaut and naval aviator *Chip Jett (born 1974), American professional poker player; husband of Karina Jett * Dennis Jett (born 1945), American diplomat and academic ...

officially announced his retirement after playing one season in the league for the

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The most popular team in the league, it is owned by Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (formerly, La Tondeña Distillers, Inc.), a subsidia ...

franchise. *January 8, 2019: Chris Tiu officially announced his retirement after playing six seasons in the league for the

Rain or Shine Elasto Painters The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association owned by Asian Coatings Philippines, Inc. It debuted in the league in the 2006–07 PBA season after acquiring the franchise right ...

franchise. *April 4, 2019:

Josh Urbiztondo Joshua Emile Doherty Urbiztondo (born February 27, 1983) is a Filipino-American former professional basketball player. He last played for the San Miguel Alab Pilipinas of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). Amateur career Urbiztondo played fo ...

officially announced his retirement after playing eight seasons in the league. *April 12, 2019:

Rico Maierhofer Paul Rico Galenzoga Maierhofer (born November 4, 1985) is a Filipino former professional basketball player. He last played for the San Miguel Alab Pilipinas of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). He was drafted 2nd overall by the Purefoods Tende ...

officially announced his retirement after playing eight seasons in the league. *November 14, 2019:

Doug Kramer Douglas Rimorin Kramer (born July 10, 1983) is a Filipino former basketball player. He played for eight teams in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). College career Kramer set a career-high 19 rebounds along with 3 blocks and 16 point ...

officially announced his retirement after playing 12 seasons in the league.

Coaching changes

Rule changes

The PBA competition committee approved the rule changes for implementation starting in the Philippine Cup games:

Notable events

*The PBA Board of Governors decided to retain

as the Board Chairman. Subsequently, Dickie Bachmann of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

and Raymond Zorilla of Phoenix were retained as Vice-Chairman and Treasurer respectively.

Philippine Cup

*February 17: A legends game organized by the PBA Legends Foundation and

Breakthrough and Milestones Productions International Breakthrough and Milestones Productions International Inc. (abbreviated as BMPI) is a Filipino-owned media company, providing services for radio, television, motion picture, print, publications, Internet Broadcast, audio recording, photography ...

(

UNTV UNTV, formally known as UNTV News and Rescue and UNTV Public Service, is the flagship Philippine television network of the Progressive Broadcasting Corporation (known on air as UNTV-PBC), together with Breakthrough and Milestones Productions ...

) entitled ''PBA Legends: Return of the Rivals'' was held at the

. Former players from the

Alaska Milkmen The Alaska Aces were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association since 1986 under the ownership of Alaska Milk Corporation (AMC) and the owner of 14 PBA championships, tied with the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and ...

and 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 ...

played in the first game, while former players from Purefoods Hotdogs and the

Ginebra San Miguel Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI, ) () (formerly, La Tondeña Distillers, Inc.) is a Philippines-based diversified beverage company majority-owned by San Miguel Corporation (SMC). History La Tondeña was established in 1902 by Carlos Palanca, S ...

played in the second game. *March 1: The 2019 season schedule will be modified to accommodate the preparations of the Philippine men's basketball team for the

FIBA Basketball World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

to be held in September and the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

on December. The season may be extended up to January 2020. *April 9: PBA referee Guillermo "Emy" Tangkion died after collapsing during their referee's workout at the JSCGO Gymnasium. A moment of silence was observed the following day before the start of the quarterfinals match between the San Miguel Beermen and the TNT KaTropa.

Commissioner's Cup

*May 16: A rule change was made to be implemented starting the Commissioner's Cup that will allow a video review if a shot was made before or after the expiration of the 24-second shotclock throughout the game. Before the rule change, a video review is only possible if the shot was made in the last two minutes of the game. The rule change was made in light of the controversial shot made by Magnolia's

Rome dela Rosa Rome Adler dela Rosa (born December 11, 1990) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Magnolia Hotshots of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Early life Dela Rosa grew up in San Diego, California and his favorite sport wa ...

during Game 7 of their best-of-seven semifinals series against Rain or Shine, at the 3:30 mark of the 4th quarter. The referees counted his three point basket even though replays showed that the ball was still in his hands when the shotclock expired. *May 19: The PBA began using the Molten BG5000 basketball as their official tournament ball. The same ball will be used during the

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, becoming the first since 1967 that did not ...

. *June 4:

Calvin Abueva Calvin Abueva (born February 4, 1988) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Magnolia Hotshots of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was picked second overall by the Alaska Aces during the 2012 PBA Draft. He was nic ...

of the

was indefinitely suspended by PBA Commissioner

after he was involved in two on-court incidents during Phoenix's games against

Blackwater Elite The Blackwater Bossing is a professional basketball team owned by Ever Bilena, Inc. that is playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) beginning in the 2014–2015 season. The franchise began as one of the founding teams in the ...

and

. On May 31, Abueva was involved in a verbal altercation against Ray Parks' girlfriend Maika Rivera and did lewd gestures to her after their win against Blackwater. On June 2, he clotheslined TNT's import

Terrence Jones Terrence Alexander Jones (born January 9, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Kaohsiung Steelers of the Taiwanese P. League+. He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball, Kentucky Wildcats. Hi ...

. Abueva was also fined a total of P70,000 for both incidents. *August 14: During the second quarter of game five of the PBA Commissioner's Cup, Arwind Santos made "monkey gestures" at the San Miguel bench addressing Jones after the latter committed a foul. Initially he refused to apologize stating "I’m going to apologize? No. It depends on him. If he was annoyed, he’s a real monkey."Translated from the Filipino language: ''"..."Sorry ako? Hindi. Depende ’yun sa kanya. Kung mapipikon siya, totoong monkey siya. Kung di ka mapipikon, di ka monkey."''. PBA Commissioner

summoned Santos the following day and was fined P200,000, 100 hours of community services. Santos will also undergo counseling on equality and racial discrimination. Santos later posted a public apology through his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Opening ceremonies

The

opening ceremonies An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

for this season were held at the

Philippine Arena The Philippine Arena is the world's largest indoor arena. It is a multipurpose indoor arena with a maximum seating capacity of 55,000 at Ciudad de Victoria, a 140-hectare tourism enterprise zone in Bocaue and Santa Maria, Bulacan, Philippin ...

Bocaue Bocaue, officially the Municipality of Bocaue ( tgl, Bayan ng Bocaue), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 141,412 people. With the continuous expansion of Met ...

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan ( tl, Lalawigan ng Bulacan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on August 15, 1578, and part of the Me ...

on January 13, 2019. The PBA Leo Awards for the 2017-18 season were held before the opening ceremonies. The first game of the Philippine Cup between the

and the

was played after the opening ceremonies.It’s TNT KaTropa against Barangay Ginebra in PBA season-opener
Randolph Leongson, spin.ph, January 8, 2019 Below is the list of team muses:

2019 PBA Philippine Cup

The 2019 Philippine Cup started on January 13, and ended on May 15, 2019.

Elimination round

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

*Team has

twice-to-beat advantage 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 ...

. Team #1 only has to win once, while Team #2 has to win twice.

Semifinals

Finals

* Finals MVP:

June Mar Fajardo June Mar Sotto Fajardo (; born November 17, 1989) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He is also known by his nickname "The Kraken” for his extraordinary size ...

*Best Player of the Conference:

2019 PBA Commissioner's Cup

The 2019 Commissioner's Cup started on May 19, and ended on August 16, 2019.

Elimination round

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

*Team has

. Team 1 only has to win once, while Team 2 has to win twice.

Semifinals

Finals

* Finals MVP:

Terrence Romeo Terrence Bill Vitanzos Romeo (born March 16, 1992) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He plays both the point guard and shooting guard positions. He played ...

* Best Player of the Conference:

Jayson Castro Jayson Castro William (born June 30, 1986) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the TNT Tropang Giga of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). His moniker is "The Blur" for his speed. He played for the Philippine Christian Un ...

*Bobby Parks Best Import of the Conference:

2019 PBA Governors' Cup

The 2019 Governors' Cup started on September 20, 2019, and ended on January 17, 2020.

Elimination round

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

*Team has

. Team 1 only has to win once, while Team 2 has to win twice.

Semifinals

Finals

*Finals MVP:

Japeth Aguilar Japeth Paul Cabrera Aguilar (born January 25, 1987) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He first played college basketball for the Ateneo Blue Eagl ...

*Best Player of the Conference:

Christian Standhardinger Christian Karl Standhardinger (born on ) is a Filipino-German professional basketball player for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was selected first overall by the San Miguel Beermen in the 2017 ...

*Bobby Parks Best Import of the Conference: Allen Durham

Awards

Leo Awards

* Most Valuable Player:

( San Miguel) * Rookie of the Year:

CJ Perez Christian Jaymar Perez (born November 17, 1993) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was selected 1st overall in the 2018 PBA draft by Columbian Dyip. Earl ...

( Columbian) * Most Improved Player:

Moala Tautuaa Moala Delvalle Tautuaa Jr. (born April 30, 1989) is an American born Filipino-Tongan professional basketball player for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was drafted first overall by the TNT Tropang Texte ...

( San Miguel) * First Mythical Team: **

(

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reage ...

) **

( Columbian) **

( San Miguel) **

( NorthPort) ** Sean Anthony ( NorthPort) * Second Mythical Team: **

Roger Pogoy Roger Ray Bacusmo Pogoy (born June 16, 1992) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the TNT Tropang Giga of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He has also represented the Philippines national team in international competiti ...

(

) **

Stanley Pringle Stanley Wayne Andres Pringle Jr. (born March 5, 1987) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Pringle played college basketball for Pasco–Hernan ...

( Barangay Ginebra) **

Troy Rosario Jeth Troy Utanes Rosario (born January 20, 1992) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Blackwater Bossing of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). College and amateur career Rosario played for two years at Technologica ...

(

) **

Ian Sangalang Ian Paul Mendoza Sangalang (born December 20, 1991) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Magnolia Hotshots of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was drafted 2nd overall by the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers, Mixers in ...

(

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

) * All-Defensive Team: **

( Columbian) ** Chris Ross ( San Miguel) **

( San Miguel) ** Sean Anthony ( NorthPort) **

( Barangay Ginebra) *

Samboy Lim Avelino Borromeo Lim Jr. (born April 1, 1962), better known as Samboy "The Skywalker" Lim, is a retired Filipino professional basketball player of the Philippine Basketball Association and many time national player in the 1980s and 90s. As a ...

Sportsmanship Award:

Gabe Norwood Gabriel Daniel Viloria Norwood (born February 9, 1985) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player for the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He played college basketball at George Mason Univ ...

( Rain or Shine)

PBA Press Corps Annual Awards

* Defensive Player of the Year: Sean Anthony ( NorthPort) * Scoring Champion:

( Columbian) *

Baby Dalupan Virgilio "Baby" Adam Dalupan (October 19, 1923 – August 17, 2016) was a Filipino basketball coach and player. Dubbed "The Maestro", Dalupan was best known for his lengthy coaching tenure with the Crispa Redmanizers and garnered a career to ...

Coach of the Year:

Leo Austria Leovino R. Austria (born March 14, 1958), better known as Leo Austria, is a Filipino former professional basketball player and the current head coach of the San Miguel Beermen in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Playing career Aus ...

( San Miguel) * Mr. Quality Minutes:

( San Miguel) * Danny Floro Executive of the Year:

(

) * Order of Merit:

( San Miguel) *All-Rookie Team **

( Columbian) **

Robert Bolick Robert Lee Espina Bolick Jr. (born September 13, 1995) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the NorthPort Batang Pier of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He played college basketball for the San Beda Red Lions of the ...

( NorthPort) ** Javee Mocon ( Rain or Shine) ** Bobby Ray Parks Jr. (

) ** Abu Tratter (

) *All-Interview Team **

Kiefer Ravena Kiefer Isaac Crisologo Ravena (; born October 27, 1993) is a Filipino professional basketball player for Shiga Lakes of the Japanese B.League. Ravena played for the Ateneo Blue Eagles of the UAAP during his college days. He plays the point ...

(

NLEX The North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), signed as E1 of the Philippine expressway network, partially as N160 of the Philippine highway network, and R-8 of the Metro Manila arterial road network, is a limited-access toll expressway that connects ...

) **

( NorthPort) **

Beau Belga Beau Michael Vincent Esparrago Belga (born November 30, 1986) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters of the Philippine Basketball Association. He is also an assistant coach for the UST Growling Tigers ...

( Rain or Shine) **

Vic Manuel ឴ Victorino Aranas Manuel (born June 18, 1987) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Amateur career Manuel possessed tremendous athleticism and agility uncommon f ...

(

) ** Arwind Santos ( San Miguel) **

Yeng Guiao Joseller "Yeng" Medina Guiao (born March 19, 1959) is a Filipino professional basketball head coach, politician, commentator and sports commissioner. He is currently the head coach of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters of the Philippine Basketba ...

(

) * Game of the Season: NorthPort vs.

(November 27, 2019, Governors' Cup quarterfinals) * President's Cup:

Vergel Meneses Vergel Corpuz Meneses (born January 14, 1969) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player and a politician, serving as mayor of the municipality of Bulakan, Bulacan. He previously played in the Philippine Basketball Association and ...

PBA teams in Asian club competitions

Cumulative standings

Elimination round

Playoffs

Notes

References

External links

PBA Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2019 PBA season 2018–19 in Asian basketball leagues