CALASIAO, Philippines – In the spirit of delighting fans, the PBA will not mete out a fine to Arwind Santos despite him pulling off his patented Spider-Man dunk in the 2019 PBA All-Star Game.

Santos highlighted his stellar performance for the North All-Stars by tapping both of his feet on the backboard on multiple breakaway dunks in a 185-170 thrashing of the South All-Stars on Sunday, March 31. 

The move has been forbidden by the PBA since the start of the season, earning those who do the “monkey ride” an unsportsmanlike technical foul. (READ: No more ‘Spider-man dunk’ for Arwind as PBA penalizes ‘monkey ride’)

But league commissioner Willie Marcial says Santos will go away scot-free since the game was staged to entertain the fans, even giving the example of June Mar Fajardo lifting PBA legend Benjie Paras for a dunk.

“Just for fun. Kita mo, ginagawa nila June Mar, nila Benjie para maging masaya. Sa game, talagang may fine,” Marcial said. 

(It’s just for fun. You saw what June Mar and Benjie did to make the fans happy. If it’s an official game, there’s a fine.) 

Although unsure of the consequences, Santos took the risk to break out the move he has been known for throughout his 13-year PBA career. 

“‘Di ko pinaalam, ‘di naman nila ako winarningan. Wala naman akong memo na bawal ‘yun at mapa-fine ako dito kaya ginawa ko,” he said. 

(I didn’t ask if I could do the dunk and they did not warn me that I couldn’t. There’s also no memo that it’s forbidden here so I did it.) 

Pumped up by the Spider-Man dunk, Santos had himself a night as he delivered 34 points, 17 rebounds and 6 assists to be adjudged as co-Most Valuable Player with Japeth Aguilar. 

But will he do it again on an official PBA game? Santos has a simple answer for that. 

“[P]ag nag-dunk ako sa PBA, sa All-Filipino, sabihin ko na lang, ‘Ay akala ko All-Star, nakalimutan ko. Sorry,’ Para ‘di nila ako i-technical,” he said with a hearty laugh. 

(When I dunk in the PBA, in the All-Filipino conference, I’ll just say, “I thought it was still the All-Star, I forgot about it. Sorry,” So I wouldn’t get a technical.)  – Rappler.com