Stars that pushed their respective teams to the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup Finals headline the contenders for the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) award in the shortened bubble season.
Stanley Pringle will be vying for the highest individual plum against Ray Parks and Roger Pogoy in another Barangay Ginebra-TNT battle for prestige, with the winner set to be hailed on Jan. 17 during the virtual PBA Awards Night.
Pringle finished just outside the top five in the statistical race, but he was far and away Ginebra's most consistent player from the elimination round in October up until clinching the title last December.
Parks, on the other hand, led all players in statistical points with 38.2 SPs, although he missed the last four games of the five-game finale after being sidelined by a calf injury.
His teammate Pogoy carried the load for TNT in his absence and finished fifth in the stats race with 35.64 SPS.
Also shooting for the BPC award are Phoenix stars Matthew Wright and Calvin Abueva, and Terrafirma's CJ Perez.
Wright and Abueva pushed Phoenix a win away from the franchise's first finals appearance. Abueva placed second behind Parks in the stats race, while Wright and Perez came third and fourth, respectively.
Their individual numbers make up 40 percent of the total votes. Media (30 percent) and player (25 percent) votes, as well as that of the Commissioner's Office (5 percent) make up the rest.
No MVP award will be handed out this year since the season was reduced to just a single conference in the league's 45th season. Voting starts on Jan. 5 and ends on Jan. 11.
Other special honors set to be given out in lieu of the traditional awards are the Outstanding Rookie and the Outstanding/Elite Five, which will replace the Rookie of the Year award and the Mythical Team selections. No Mythical Second Team and All-Defensive Team will be named this season.
Alaska's Barkley Ebona, Barangay Ginebra's Arvin Tolentino, Magnolia's Aris Dionisio, Meralco's Aaron Black and Terrafirma's Roosevelt Adams will be competing for the rookie award.
Meanwhile, set to contend for the Most Improved Player award are Jason Perkins and Justin Chua of Phoenix, Javee Mocon of Rain or Shine, Prince Caperal of Barangay Ginebra, Raul Soyud of NLEX, and Reynel Hugnatan of Meralco.
For the Samboy Lim Sportsmanship Award, nominated are Abueva, Perez, Barangay Ginebra's Gabe Norwood, NLEX's Kevin Alas and Rain or Shine's Gabe Norwood.