CJ Perez powers San Miguel’s turnaround, earns PBA Player of the Week nod

CJ Perez is starting to look like the spark San Miguel needed to steady itself after an uneven start to the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

As the Beermen begin to settle into a new rhythm behind import Justin Patton, Perez has emerged as the local force helping turn close calls and corrections into actual wins — and that impact was enough to earn him the latest PBA Press Corps Player of the Week honor.

The veteran swingman was recognized for the period of March 31 to April 5 after helping San Miguel put together back-to-back victories, a timely response for a team that had spent the opening stretch of the conference trying to regain its footing.

And while Patton’s arrival has naturally drawn much of the attention, Perez’s role in the turnaround has been just as important.

Over San Miguel’s wins against the Macau Black Knights and Barangay Ginebra, Perez averaged 23.0 points on 55-percent shooting, along with 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.0 steals — numbers that reflected not just scoring production, but his all-around involvement in the Beermen’s recovery.

His biggest moment came on Easter Sunday in San Miguel’s gritty 85-82 win over Ginebra. After being held back by early foul trouble and going scoreless in the first half, Perez responded with the kind of takeover performance that reminded everyone why he remains one of the league’s most dangerous momentum players. 

He scored 15 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter alone, helping fuel the Beermen’s comeback from 15 points down.

“Nakakafrustrate siya pero nag-focus lang ako, nag-stay composed ako, nilaro ko lang laro ko sa second half at nagbunga naman. Grateful ako na nanalo kami,” Perez said.

That response said plenty about where San Miguel is beginning to find its edge.

The Beermen have not exactly looked dominant yet, but they have started to show signs of a team rediscovering how to close games — and Perez has been at the center of that shift, whether by scoring, defending, or making the right play late.

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CJay Perez bags his third Player of the Week award this season after powering the San Miguel Beermen’s bounce-back run, averaging 23.0 points in big wins over Macau and Barangay Ginebra!#PBA50 #PBA50LID pic.twitter.com/fWbbuoR8LX

— One Sports (@OneSportsPHL) April 7, 2026

One of those plays ended up deciding the Ginebra game. With the score tied in the closing seconds, Perez came up with the offensive rebound and then delivered the kick-out pass that led to Don Trollano’s game-winning three-pointer, a sequence that may have summed up his recent stretch better than any stat line could.

That same aggression was also there in San Miguel’s earlier 110-94 win over Macau, where Perez poured in a game-high 26 points to help the Beermen secure another much-needed result.

Taken together, those performances made him the clear choice for the weekly citation.

Perez was the unanimous selection by the scribes regularly covering the PBA beat, beating out Rain or Shine’s Andrei Caracut and NLEX standouts Schonny Winston and Kevin Alas for the award.

It also marked the third time this season that Perez has claimed the weekly honor, placing him just behind Converge rookie Juan Gomez de Liano, who has already collected four.

More than the award itself, though, Perez’s recent run feels significant because of what it may signal for San Miguel moving forward.

The Beermen made a major adjustment earlier in the conference when they brought in the 7-foot-1 Patton in place of Marcus Lee after dropping two of their first three games. That move was meant to stabilize the team, but roster changes only go so far if the core local stars do not respond with urgency.

Perez has done exactly that. He has helped bridge the transition, giving San Miguel not only another scorer but also a player capable of shifting the energy of a game when the Beermen need it most.

And if this stretch is any indication, San Miguel’s climb back into form may not just be about a new import. It may also be about CJ Perez starting to take over again.

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