Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and USC women’s basketball player Juju Watkins are nominated for ESPY Awards, it was announced Wednesday.
Simone Biles, Jaylen Brown, Caitlin Clark, Coco Gauff and Patrick Mahomes are the top nominees for the annual sports awards show that celebrates the best athletes, best teams and best plays of the year.
Haleigh Bryant, Coco Gauff, C.J. Stroud, Victor Wembanyama and Watkins are first-time nominees.
Ohtani, who played for the Los Angeles Angels before signing a record-breaking contract with the Dodgers, is up for his second Best Athlete, Men’s Sports award. Mahomes, the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, is also seeking his second Best Athlete, Men’s Sports award.
LeBron James, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, is one of three multiple winners of the Best Athlete, Men’s Sports award. The other two are Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods.
Ohtani is also nominated for Best MLB Player with Corey Seager, who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers before joining the Texas Rangers, Ronald Acuña of the Atlanta Braves and Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees.
“The 2024 ESPYS” will broadcast live on July 11 at 8 p.m. on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and will be hosted by Serena Williams.
The ESPY Awards recognize nominees and honor winners in categories such as Best Athlete, Men’s Sports; Best Athlete, Women’s Sports; Best Breakthrough Athlete; Best Record-Breaking Performance; Best Championship Performance; and Best Comeback Athlete.
The ESPY Awards categories and nominees are:
BEST ATHLETE, MEN’S SPORTS
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels / Los Angeles Dodgers
Scottie Scheffler, Golf
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
BEST ATHLETE, WOMEN’S SPORTS
Caitlin Clark, Iowa Women’s Basketball
Coco Gauff, Tennis
Nelly Korda, Golf
A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
BEST BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE
Haleigh Bryant, LSU Gymnastics
J. Stroud, Houston Texans
Juju Watkins, USC Women’s Basketball
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
BEST RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE
49ers Christian McCaffrey scores a TD for a record breaking 17 straight games
Caitlin Clark becomes NCAA’s All Time Scoring Leader breaking Pete Maravich’s Record
Tara VanDerveer, Stanford Women’s Basketball — gets 1,203rd win to pass Coach K for most by any coach in NCAA basketball history
Max Verstappen wins record 10th consecutive race with victory at Italian Grand Prix
BEST CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCE
Michigan’s Blake Corum and Will Johnson, 2024 College Football National Championship MVPs
Kayla Martello, Boston College Women’s Lacrosse
Midge Purce, NJ/NY Gotham FC — NWSL Championship MVP
Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
BEST COMEBACK ATHLETE
Simone Biles, Gymnast
Paige Bueckers, University of Connecticut Women*s Basketball
Joe Flacco, Cleveland Browns
Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
BEST PLAY
Jayda Coleman calls GAME sending Oklahoma to their 4th Straight Championship (6/4/24)
Anthony Edwards Dunk of the Year (3/18/24)
Alabama scores on 4th & 31 to win Auburn (11/25/23)
Lamar Jackson Caught His Own Pass & Ran With it (1/28/24)
BEST TEAM
South Carolina Gamecocks, NCAA Women’s Basketball
Kansas City Chiefs, NFL
Michigan Wolverines, NCAA Football
Las Vegas Aces, WNBA
University of Connecticut Huskies, NCAA Men*s Basketball
Oklahoma Sooners, NCAA Softball
Boston Celtics, NBA
Florida Panthers, NHL
Texas Rangers, MLB
BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE, MEN*S SPORTS
Jayden Daniels, LSU Football
Zach Edey, Purdue Men*s Basketball
Ousmane Sylla, Clemson Soccer
Pat Kavanagh, Notre Dame Lacrosse
BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE, WOMEN*S SPORTS
Haleigh Bryant, LSU Gymnastics
Caitlin Clark, Iowa Basketball
Sarah Franklin, Wisconsin Volleyball
Izzy Scane, Northwestern Lacrosse
BEST ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY
Jaydin Blackwell World Champion Sprinter
Ezra Frech, World Champion High Jumper
Brenna Huckaby Snowboarding Champion
Oksana Masters, Cross-Country Skier/Hand Cyclist
BEST NFL PLAYER
Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
BEST MLB PLAYER
Ronald Acuña , Atlanta Braves
Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels
Corey Seager, Texas Rangers
BEST NHL PLAYER
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
BEST NBA PLAYER
Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
BEST WNBA PLAYER
Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty
Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut Sun
A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
BEST DRIVER
Ryan Blaney, NASCAR
Matt Hagan, NHRA
Ãlex Palou, IndyCar
Max Verstappen, F1
BEST UFC FIGHTER
Islam Makhachev
Sean O’Malley
Alex Pereira
Zhang Weili
BEST BOXER
Terence Crawford
Seniesa Estrada
Naoya Inoue
Oleksandr Usyk
BEST SOCCER PLAYER
Aitana BonmatÃ, Spain
Naomi Girma, USWNT
Vinicius Junior, Brazil/Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappé, France/Real Madrid
BEST GOLFER
Nelly Korda
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Lilia Vu
BEST TENNIS PLAYER
Carlos Alcaraz
Novak Djokovic
Coco Gauff
Iga Swiatek