The Philippine Basketball Association awards a championship trophy (or cup) to the winning team at the end of each conference (tournament).
To determine a champion for a conference, a double-round elimination (sometimes a classification) round is usually held. After the elimination (or classification) round, the playoffs would be held.
There had been a variety of ways the league conducted its playoffs,For a discussion of the different formats, see Playoff format such as: Single-elimination tournament The twice-to-beat advantage (The higher-seeded team needs to win only once in order to advance, while the lower-seeded team needs to win twice consecutively. This is basically a modification of the best-of-three series.) Round-robin (or double-round robin) Best-of-three series Best-of-five series Best-of-seven series
There are two types of conferences: All-Filipino or import-laden. The All-Filipino conferences are tournaments where the teams are prohibited from hiring a foreigner as an additional player. An import-laden conference is a tournament where teams are allowed to hire a foreigner (the "import") as an additional player.
Starting from the PBA's first conference, most finals series are in a best-of-five format. The 1982 PBA Reinforced Filipino Conference is the first finals series that is best-of-seven. Starting the season after that, championship series in import-laden conferences are in a best-of-seven format, while all-Filipino conferences are best-of-five. Starting in 1989, almost finals series are in a best-of-seven format, excluding special conferences like the 1998 PBA Centennial Cup, or if the PBA is forced to shorten the season, like during the 2013–14 season, where the last two conferences were made into best-of-five series to make way for the Philippine national team's participation in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and 2014 Asian Games.
The winning team is said to be the champions of the conference. After each season, there would be no playoffs in order to determine a "season champion."
However, the teams which are both boldfaced and italicized, the Crispa Redmanizers (1976 and 1983), the San Miguel Beermen (1989), the Alaska Milkmen (1996) and the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers (2013–14), hold the distinction of winning all three conferences in one season and have the distinction of winning the "Grand Slam". Winning the Grand Slam is the equivalent of the "season championship," where the team is said to be the undisputed champion in the league.
The league previously holds a "battle for third place" playoff to determine the third-place team in a conference. This practice was abandoned beginning the 2010–11 season.
Champions by season
1975–2010 SeasonConferenceChampionSeriesRunner-upThird placeWinning coach 1975 First Conference Toyota 3–1 Crispa U/Tex Dante Silverio Second Conference Toyota 2–1 Crispa Noritake Dante Silverio All-Philippine Crispa 3–2 Toyota U/Tex Baby Dalupan 1976 First Conference Crispa 3–1 Toyota Noritake Baby Dalupan Second Conference Crispa 3–1 Toyota Royal Baby Dalupan All-Philippine Crispa 3–2 Toyota U/Tex Baby Dalupan 1977 All-Filipino Crispa 3–1 Mariwasa Toyota Baby Dalupan Open Crispa 3–2 U/Tex Toyota Baby Dalupan Invitational Toyota 3–0 Emtex Brazil Crispa Dante Silverio 1978 All-Filipino Toyota 3–1 Filmanbank Tanduay Dante Silverio Open U/Tex 3–0 Crispa Toyota Tommy Manotoc Invitational Toyota 3–1 Tanduay Crispa Dante Silverio 1979 All-Filipino Crispa 3–2 Toyota Tanduay Baby Dalupan Open Royal 3–1 Toyota Great Taste Ed Ocampo Invitational Toyota 3–1 Walk Tall U/Tex Fort Acuña 1980 Open U/Tex 3–2 Toyota Walk Tall Tommy Manotoc Invitational Nicholas Stoodley (USA) 2–0 Toyota Adidas (France) Jerry Webber All-Filipino Crispa 3–1 Toyota Tanduay Baby Dalupan 1981 Open Toyota 3–2 Crispa U/Tex Ed Ocampo Reinforced Filipino Crispa 3–1 U/Tex Presto Baby Dalupan 1982 Reinforced Filipino Toyota 4–3 San Miguel Crispa Ed Ocampo Invitational San Miguel 2–1 Crispa South Korea Tommy Manotoc Open Toyota 3–0 Gilbey's Gin San Miguel Ed Ocampo 1983 All-Filipino Crispa 3–0 Gilbey's Gin Great Taste Tommy Manotoc Reinforced Filipino Crispa 3–2 Great Taste Tanduay Tommy Manotoc Open Crispa 3–0 Great Taste San Miguel Tommy Manotoc 1984 First All-Filipino Crispa 4–1 Gilbey's Gin Northern Cement Narciso Bernardo Second All-Filipino Great Taste 3–0 Beer Hausen Tanduay Baby Dalupan Invitational Great Taste 3–2 Crispa Beer Hausen Baby Dalupan 1985 Open Great Taste 4–2 Magnolia Northern Cement Baby Dalupan All-Filipino Great Taste 3–1 Shell Tanduay Baby Dalupan Reinforced Northern Cement 4–0 Manila Beer Ginebra Ron Jacobs 1986 Reinforced Tanduay 4–2 Great Taste Ginebra Turo Valenzona All-Filipino Tanduay 3–1 Ginebra Shell Turo Valenzona Open Ginebra 4–1 Manila Beer Great Taste Robert Jaworski 1987 Open Tanduay 4–1 Great Taste Magnolia Turo Valenzona All-Filipino Great Taste 3–0 Hills Bros. Magnolia Baby Dalupan Reinforced San Miguel 4–1 Hills Bros. Ginebra Norman Black 1988 Open San Miguel 4–3 Purefoods Alaska Norman Black All-Filipino Añejo 3–1 Purefoods Alaska Robert Jaworski Reinforced San Miguel 4–1 Shell Añejo Norman Black 1989 Open San Miguel 4–1 Shell Alaska Norman Black All-Filipino San Miguel 4–2 Purefoods Shell Norman Black Reinforced San Miguel 4–1 Añejo Alaska Norman Black 1990 First Conference Shell 4–2 Añejo San Miguel Arlene Rodriguez All-Filipino Presto 4–3 Purefoods Añejo Jimmy Mariano Third Conference Purefoods 3–2 Alaska Shell Baby Dalupan 1991 First Conference Ginebra 4–3 Shell Diet Sarsi Robert Jaworski All-Filipino Purefoods 3–2 Diet Sarsi Alaska Ely Capacio Third Conference Alaska 3–1 Ginebra San Miguel Tim Cone 1992 First Conference Shell 4–1 San Miguel Alaska Rino Salazar All-Filipino San Miguel 4–3 Purefoods Swift Norman Black Third Conference Swift 4–0 7-Up Ginebra Yeng Guiao 1993 All-Filipino Coney Island 4–2 San Miguel Swift Chot Reyes Commissioner's Swift 4–2 Purefoods San Miguel Yeng Guiao Governors' San Miguel 4–1 Swift Sta. Lucia Norman Black 1994 All-Filipino San Miguel 4–2 Coney Island Alaska Norman Black Commissioner's Purefoods 4–1 Alaska Swift Chot Reyes Governors' Alaska 4–2 Swift Pepsi Tim Cone 1995 All-Filipino Sunkist 4–3 Alaska Sta. Lucia Derrick Pumaren Commissioner's Sunkist 4–2 Alaska Sta. Lucia Derrick Pumaren Governors' Alaska 4–3 San Miguel Sunkist Tim Cone 1996 All-Filipino Alaska 4–1 Purefoods San Miguel Tim Cone Commissioner's Alaska 4–3 Shell Sta. Lucia Tim Cone Governors' Alaska 4–1 Ginebra Shell Tim Cone 1997 All-Filipino Purefoods 4–2 Gordon's Gin Sta. Lucia Eric Altamirano Commissioner's Gordon's Gin 4–2 Alaska San Miguel Robert Jaworski Governors' Alaska 4–1 Purefoods San Miguel Tim Cone 1998 All-Filipino Alaska 4–3 San Miguel Pop Cola Tim Cone Commissioner's Alaska 4–2 San Miguel Pop Cola Tim Cone Centennial Mobiline 1–0 Shell Pop Cola Eric Altamirano Governors' Shell 4–3 Mobiline Purefoods Perry Ronquillo 1999 All-Filipino Shell 4–2 Tanduay Barangay Ginebra Perry Ronquillo Commissioner's San Miguel 4–2 Shell Alaska Jong Uichico Governors' San Miguel 4–2 Alaska Tanduay Jong Uichico 2000 All-Filipino Alaska 4–1 Purefoods Tanduay Tim Cone Commissioner's San Miguel 4–1 Sta. Lucia Alaska Jong Uichico Governors' San Miguel 4–1 Purefoods Red Bull Jong Uichico 2001 All-Filipino San Miguel 4–2 Barangay Ginebra Pop Cola Jong Uichico Commissioner's Red Bull 4–2 San Miguel Alaska Yeng Guiao Governors' Sta. Lucia 4–2 San Miguel Shell Norman Black 2002 Governors' Purefoods 4–3 Alaska Coca-Cola Ryan Gregorio Commissioner's Red Bull 4–3 Talk 'N Text San Miguel Yeng Guiao All-Filipino Coca-Cola 3–1 Alaska San Miguel Chot Reyes 2003 All-Filipino Talk 'N Text 4–2 Coca-Cola Alaska Joel Banal Invitational Alaska 2–1 Coca-Cola FedEx Tim Cone Reinforced Coca-Cola 4–3 San Miguel Talk 'N Text Chot Reyes (2004) Fiesta Barangay Ginebra 3–1 Red Bull Talk 'N Text Siot Tanquingcen 2004–05 Philippine Barangay Ginebra 4–2 Talk 'N Text San Miguel Siot Tanquingcen Fiesta San Miguel 4–1 Talk 'N Text Shell Jong Uichico 2005–06 Fiesta Red Bull 4–2 Purefoods Air21 Yeng Guiao Philippine Purefoods 4–2 Red Bull Alaska Ryan Gregorio 2006–07 Philippine Barangay Ginebra 4–2 San Miguel Talk 'N Text Jong Uichico Fiesta Alaska 4–3 Talk 'N Text Red Bull Tim Cone 2007–08 Philippine Sta. Lucia 4–3 Purefoods Red Bull Boyet Fernandez Fiesta Barangay Ginebra 4–3 Air21 Red Bull Jong Uichico 2008–09 Philippine Talk 'N Text 4–3 Alaska Sta. Lucia Chot Reyes Fiesta San Miguel 4–3 Barangay Ginebra Burger King Siot Tanquingcen 2009–10 Philippine Purefoods 4–0 Alaska San Miguel Ryan Gregorio Fiesta Alaska 4–2 San Miguel Talk 'N Text Tim Cone
2010–present Starting from the 2010 season, the third-place playoff (popularly known as the "battle for third") was no longer held. SeasonConferenceChampionSeriesRunner-upWinning coach 2010–11 Philippine Talk 'N Text 4–2 San Miguel Chot Reyes Commissioner's Talk 'N Text 4–2 Barangay Ginebra Chot Reyes Governors' Petron 4–3 Talk 'N Text Ato Agustin 2011–12 Philippine Talk 'N Text 4–1 Powerade Chot Reyes Commissioner's B-Meg 4–3 Talk 'N Text Tim Cone Governors' Rain or Shine 4–3 B-Meg Yeng Guiao 2012–13 Philippine Talk 'N Text 4–0 Rain or Shine Norman Black Commissioner's Alaska 3–0 Barangay Ginebra Luigi Trillo Governors' San Mig Coffee 4–3 Petron Tim Cone 2013–14 Philippine San Mig Coffee 4–2 Rain or Shine Tim Cone Commissioner's San Mig Coffee 3–1 Talk 'N Text Tim Cone Governors' San Mig Coffee 3–2 Rain or Shine Tim Cone 2014–15 Philippine San Miguel 4–3 Alaska Leo Austria Commissioner's Talk 'N Text 4–3 Rain or Shine Jong Uichico Governors' San Miguel 4–0 Alaska Leo Austria 2015–16 Philippine San Miguel 4–3 Alaska Leo Austria Commissioner's Rain or Shine 4–2 Alaska Yeng Guiao Governors' Barangay Ginebra 4–2 Meralco Tim Cone 2016–17 Philippine San Miguel 4–1 Barangay Ginebra Leo Austria Commissioner's San Miguel 4–2 TNT Leo Austria Governors' Barangay Ginebra 4–3 Meralco Tim Cone 2017–18 Philippine San Miguel 4–1 Magnolia Leo Austria Commissioner's Barangay Ginebra 4–2 San Miguel Tim Cone Governors' Magnolia 4–2 Alaska Chito Victolero 2019 Philippine San Miguel 4–3 Magnolia Leo AustriaCommissioner's San Miguel 4–2 TNT Leo Austria Governors' Barangay Ginebra 4–1 Meralco Tim Cone2020 Philippine Barangay Ginebra 4–1 TNT Tim Cone2021 Philippine TNT 4–1 Magnolia Chot ReyesGovernors' Barangay Ginebra 4–2 Meralco Tim Cone2022–23 Philippine San Miguel 4–3 TNT Leo AustriaCommissioner's Barangay Ginebra 4–3 Bay Area (Hong Kong) Tim ConeGovernors' TNT 4–2 Barangay Ginebra Jojo Lastimosa2023–24 Commissioner's San Miguel 4–2 Magnolia Jorge GallentPhilippine Meralco 4–2 San Miguel Luigi Trillo 2024–25 Governors' TNT 4–2 Barangay Ginebra Chot ReyesCommissioner's TNT 4–3 Barangay Ginebra Chot ReyesPhilippine San Miguel 4–2 TNT Leo Austria Philippine San Miguel 4–2 TNT Leo AustriaCommissioner's Barangay Ginebra 4–3 TNT Tim Cone
Championships by franchise Championships won from conferences shaded in gray above, such as Mobiline's 1998 Centennial Cup and Añejo's 1988 PBA-IBA Championship titles are not included in the table below.