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, such as:
The Finals is usually a best-of-seven series (although there had been notable exceptions). 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." The concept of having different champions in a season is similar to the concept of Apertura and Clausura of Latin American football.
However, the teams which are both boldfaced and italicized, the Crispa Redmanizers (1976 and 1983), the San Miguel Beermen (1989), and the Alaska Milkmen (1996), 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.
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.
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**The 2004 PBA Fiesta Conference was a transitional conference and was not a part of the 2003 or of the 2004–05 season.
| Season | Conference | Champion | Series | Runner-Up | Winning 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 |
| Franchise | Championships | Runners-up | Third places | Total trophies | Last championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petron/San Miguel/Magnolia/Royal | 19 | 13 | 13 | 45 | 2011 Governors |
| Crispa* | 13 | 8 | 3 | 24 | 1984 First All-Filipino |
| Alaska/Hills Bros. | 13 | 12 | 12 | 37 | 2010 Fiesta |
| Toyota* | 9 | 9 | 3 | 21 | 1982 Open |
| Purefoods/Coney Island | 8 | 13 | 1 | 22 | 2009-10 Philippine |
| Ginebra/Gordon's/Añejo/Gilbey's | 8 | 12 | 8 | 27 | 2008 Fiesta |
| Great Taste/Presto/Tivoli* | 6 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 1990 All-Filipino |
| Shell* | 4 | 5 | 6 | 15 | 1999 All-Filipino |
| Pop Cola/Sunkist/Swift/Sarsi* | 4 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 1995 Commissioner's |
| Tanduay* | 3 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 1987 Open |
| Red Bull (Photokina)* | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 2005-2006 Fiesta |
| Talk 'N Text/Mobiline/Pepsi | 4 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 2011 Commissioner's |
| U/Tex* | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 1980 Open |
| Sta. Lucia | 2 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 2007-08 Philippine |
| Coca-Cola | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2003 Reinforced |
| Northern Cement** | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1985 Reinforced |
| Nicholas Stoodley (United States)** | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1980 Invitational |
| Beer Hausen/Manila Beer | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -- |
| Mariwasa/Noritake | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -- |
| Burger King/Air21/FedEx | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -- |
| Filmanbank | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -- |
| South Korea** | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -- |
| Adidas (France)** | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -- |
| Emtex (Brazil)** | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -- |
* Defunct franchise
** Guest team