THE PBA is rescheduling the opening of its Season 45 as well as the PBA D-League in support of the precautionary measures being implemented by the national government amidst the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The PBA season opener on March 1 has been moved to March 8 still at the Smart Araneta Coliseum while the D-League opening has been reset to March 2, from Feb. 13, at the Paco Arena.
“It’s a preventive measure against nCoV. It’s now in place and will be implemented. The safety of our fans, teams, players and officials remain to be our utmost priority,” said PBA commissioner Willie Marcial.
Marcial said there would be no changes in the Day 1 activities, including the opening game that pits reigning Philippine Cup five-time champion San Miguel Beer versus Magnolia.
It will be an early rematch between the two squads that squared off in the last two all-Filipino finals both won by the Beermen.
The inaugural game will be ushered in by the Season 44 Leo Awards to be highlighted by the coronation of the season MVP.
As the stats race winner, plus being the lead man of the SMB team that just came up short of completing a grand slam, Cebuano behemoth June Mar Fajardo looks poised to bag a sixth MVP plum.
Columbian Dyip’s CJ Perez, NLEX’s Christian Standhardinger and TNT KaTropa’s Jayson Castro are the other MVP contenders.
