The PBA All-Star Game is an exhibition game hosted annually by the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), matching the league's star players using various formats. It is the featured event of PBA All-Star Weekend. The All-Star game was first staged at The ULTRA on June 4, 1989.

The starting lineup for each squad is selected by a fan ballot, while the reserves are chosen by a vote among the head coaches of the league's teams. If a selected player is injured and cannot participate, the league officials select a replacement. The head coaches of the teams that entered the season's first conference, the Philippine Cup, are chosen as the coaches of the teams in the All-Star Game.

Background

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The annual All-Star Game was instituted in 1989 and has already evolved into different types of competition, more commonly in the following formats: Philippine national team vs. PBA All-Stars (last played in 2018), Rookies, Sophomores & Juniors (RSJ) vs. Veterans (last played in 2012), and North vs. South match-up (last played in 2019). The manner by which players to the All-Star Game varied through the years. Currently,[when?] the two coaches tapped to lead the two All-Star teams were the ones who selected their players but since the mid-2000s the starting five are selected through fan voting and the reserves would now be the ones chosen by the head coaches of all the PBA teams. For the 2005-2006 season, fans from the host city or province were given the choice to select the sixth man of each team. After each game, an All-Star Most Valuable Player (MVP) was chosen by writers covering the annual event.

Vergel Meneses had clearly stamped his mark on this mid-year festivities as he remains to be the only four-time All-Star MVP awardee collecting the award in 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2003. In its entire history, eight players have been named multiple winners of the All-Star MVP award namely, Meneses, Terrence Romeo (2015, 2017 and 2018), Benjie Paras (1994 and 1999), Asi Taulava (2004 and 2006), Jayjay Helterbrand (2005 and 2007), Arwind Santos (2013 and 2019), Jeff Chan (2013 and 2018), Matthew Wright (twice in 2017) and Japeth Aguilar (2019 and 2024).

James Yap currently holds the record for most number of All-Star Game appearances with 18.[1]

Types

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The league has adopted various formats for the All-Star Game:

  • Veterans vs. Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors (RSJ): The Veteran team consists of players who have played in the league for four or more years. The RSJ team consists of players who have played in the league for less than four years.
  • North vs. South: The players' team is assigned according to their birthplaces, and in cases of players born outside the Philippines, on their parents' birth places. Players from Luzon play for the North All-Stars, while those from Visayas and Mindanao play for the South All-Stars.
  • Philippine men's national team vs. PBA All-Stars: The Philippine team consist of PBA players from national pool with a naturalized player or a cadet player if any. The national team usually carries the name of its primary sponsor or its nickname. (e.g. Philippine Centennial Team, Powerade Team Pilipinas, Gilas Pilipinas)
  • Team A vs. Team B: Two All-Star teams with no particular category are formed. This format was used in 1991 (Light All-Stars vs. Dark All-Stars) and 2003 (Commissioner's All-Stars vs. Governors' All-Stars).
    • Since 2023, two All-Star teams are captained by the top two leading vote-getters, then they will pick the players from the list (wherein fans will vote up to 24 players) via draft for their team, similar to the NBA All-Star Game format from 2018 to 2023.

All-Star Game results

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This is a list of each All-Star Game, the venue at which it was played, and the Game MVP. Parenthesized numbers indicate multiple times that venue, city, or player has occurred as of that instance (e.g. "Vergel Meneses (2)" in 1998 indicates that was his second All-Star MVP award).

Year Winning team Score Losing team Host venue Host city MVP (PBA team)
1989 Veterans 132–130 Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors The ULTRA Pasig Elmer Cabahug* (Alaska)
1990 Veterans 146–118 Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors The ULTRA (2) Pasig Samboy Lim (San Miguel)
1991 Light Team All-Stars 127–120 Dark Team All-Stars The ULTRA (3) Pasig Alvin Patrimonio (Purefoods)
1992 South All-Stars 108–105 North All-Stars PSC-NASA (4) Pasig Alvin Teng (San Miguel)
1993 North All-Stars 149–129 South All-Stars Cuneta Astrodome Pasay Allan Caidic (San Miguel)
1994 North All-Stars 133–124 South All-Stars Cuneta Astrodome (2) Pasay Benjie Paras (Shell)
1995 Veterans 112–107 Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors Cuneta Astrodome (3) Pasay Vergel Meneses (Sunkist)
1996 Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors 131–115 Veterans Cuneta Astrodome (4) Pasay Kenneth Duremdes (Sunkist)
1997 Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors 126–123 Veterans Cuneta Astrodome (5) Pasay Bal David (Gordon's Gin)
1998 Philippine Centennial Team 114–109 PBA All-Stars Cebu Coliseum Cebu City
Philippine Centennial Team 107–92 PBA All-Stars Cuneta Astrodome Pasay Vergel Meneses (2) (Pop Cola)
1999 Veterans 91–85 Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors PhilSports Arena (5) Pasig Benjie Paras (2) (Shell)
2000 Veterans 93–78 Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors University of San Agustin Gym Iloilo Vergel Meneses (3) (Barangay Ginebra)
2001 Veterans 112–105 Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors Araneta Coliseum Quezon City Danny Ildefonso (San Miguel)
2003 Governors' All-Stars 124–122 Commissioner's All-Stars Araneta Coliseum (2) Quezon City Vergel Meneses (4) (FedEx)
2004 South All-Stars 130–128 North All-Stars Cebu Coliseum (2) Cebu City Asi Taulava (Talk 'N Text)
Jimmy Alapag (Talk 'N Text) (co-winners)
2005 North All-Stars 131–128 South All-Stars Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena Laoag Jayjay Helterbrand (Barangay Ginebra)
2006 South All-Stars 122–120 North All-Stars Xavier University Gym Cagayan de Oro Asi Taulava (2) (Talk 'N Text)
2007 North All-Stars 145–142 South All-Stars University of Baguio Gym Baguio Jayjay Helterbrand (2) (Barangay Ginebra)
Willie Miller (Alaska) (co-winners)
2008 South All-Stars 163–158
(OT)***
North All-Stars West Negros University Gym Bacolod Peter June Simon (Purefoods)
2009 PBA All-Stars 97–89 Powerade-Team Pilipinas Araneta Coliseum (3) Quezon City David Noel** (Barangay Ginebra)
2010 North All-Stars 133–130 South All-Stars Puerto Princesa City Coliseum Puerto Princesa Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine)
2011 North All-Stars 133–129 South All-Stars Boracay Convention Center Boracay Marc Pingris (B-Meg Derby Ace)
2012 Veterans 176–144 Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena (2) Laoag James Yap (B-Meg)
2013 PBA All-Stars 124–124 (Draw) Gilas Pilipinas Davao del Sur Coliseum Digos Arwind Santos (Petron Blaze) and Jeff Chan (Rain or Shine)
2014 Gilas Pilipinas 101–93 PBA All-Stars Mall of Asia Arena Pasay Gary David (Meralco)
2015 North All-Stars 166–161 South All-Stars Puerto Princesa City Coliseum (2) Puerto Princesa Terrence Romeo (GlobalPort)
2016 North All-Stars 154–151 South All-Stars Smart Araneta Coliseum (4) Quezon City Alex Cabagnot (San Miguel)
2017 PBA Mindanao All-Stars 114–114 (Draw) Gilas Pilipinas Xavier University Gym (2) Cagayan de Oro Troy Rosario (TNT) and Matthew Wright (Phoenix)
Gilas Pilipinas 122–111 PBA Luzon All-Stars Quezon Convention Center Lucena Matthew Wright (2) (Phoenix)
Gilas Pilipinas 125–112 PBA Visayas All-Stars Hoops Dome Lapu-Lapu City Terrence Romeo (2) (GlobalPort)
2018 PBA Mindanao All-Stars 144–130 Smart All-Stars Davao del Sur Coliseum (2) Digos Baser Amer (Meralco)
Smart All-Stars 152–149 PBA Luzon All-Stars Batangas City Sports Coliseum Batangas City Terrence Romeo (3) (TNT)
PBA Visayas All-Stars 157–141 Smart All-Stars University of San Agustin Gym (2) Iloilo City Jeff Chan (2) (Phoenix)
2019 North All-Stars 185–170 South All-Stars Calasiao Sports Complex Calasiao Arwind Santos (2) (San Miguel)
Japeth Aguilar (Barangay Ginebra) (co-winners)
2023 Team Japeth 140–136 Team Scottie City of Passi Arena Passi Paul Lee (Magnolia)
2024 Team Japeth 140–140 (Draw) Team Mark La Salle Coliseum Bacolod Japeth Aguilar (2) (Barangay Ginebra) and Robert Bolick (NLEX) (co-winners)
  • * MVP from losing team
  • ** MVP was Import Player.
  • *** The two teams requested for an overtime period to be held.

Head-to-head results

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Format Results
Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors vs. Veterans Veterans lead, 7–2 in all-time series
North All-Stars vs. South All-Stars North All-Stars lead, 9–4 in all-time series
PBA All-Stars vs. Philippine National Team Philippine NT lead, 6–3–2 in all-time series

References

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  1. ^ "2024 PBA All Star: Homecoming for James Yap". pba.ph. March 23, 2024. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
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