Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and USC women’s basketball player Juju Watkins are among the nominees hoping to take home prizes Thursday evening as the annual ESPY Awards are presented in Hollywood.
Simone Biles, Jaylen Brown, Caitlin Clark, Coco Gauff and Patrick Mahomes are also among 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, quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, is also seeking his second Best Athlete, Men’s Sports award. Also nominated for the honor are golfer Scottie Scheffler and Edmonton Oilers hockey standout Connor McDavid.
Lakers star LeBron James is one of three multiple winners of the Best Athlete, Men’s Sports award. The other two are Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods.
Nominated for Best Athlete, Women’s Sports are WNBA rookie star Caitlin Clark, tennis star Coco Gauff, golfer Nelly Korda and WNBA standout A’ja Wilson.
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 be broadcast live by ESPN at 5 p.m. on ABC from the Dolby Theatre.
Serena Williams will host.
During the ceremony, Former NFL safety Steve Gleason, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2011, University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley and Prince Harry will all receive special honors.
Gleason, who played eight years for the New Orleans Saints, will receive the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for his fight against ALS and his founding of the nonprofit Team Gleason, which works to provide programming and support services for ALS patients as well as research to find a cure.
Previous recipients of the Arthur Ashe Award include Bill Russell, Kevin Love, USA Gymnastics sexual abuse survivors and the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.
Staley will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, honoring not only her championship coaching but her support for women’s sports and work in the fight against cancer. Staley’s sister, Tracy Underwood, and former assistant coach Nikki McCray-Penson, were both recently diagnosed with cancer, leading Staley to become a staunch advocate for cancer research, according to ESPN. She has also vocally pushed for gender equality and diversity in sports.
Former Jimmy V Award recipients include Jim Kelly, Dick Vitale, Rob Mendez and Liam Hendriks.
Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, will receive the Pat Tillman Award for Service, honoring a person with strong ties to sports and who has “served others in a way that echoes the legacy of” Tillman, a former NFL player who left the game to become a U.S. Army Ranger and was killed in action. Prince Harry founded The Invictus Games Foundation, “creating an international platform to support wounded, injured, and sick servicemen and women — both active-duty and veterans — who are navigating both physical and invisible injuries.”
Past recipients of the Tillman Award include Marcus Rashford, Gretchen Evans and the Buffalo Bills Training Staff who worked to save the life of player Damar Hamlin when he suffered a cardiac arrest on the field.
Prince Harry will receive the award despite recent criticism by Tillman’s mother, who questioned whether a more deserving recipient could be found. ESPN defended the choice and said the Invictus Games Foundation “does incredible work and ESPN believes this is a cause worth celebrating.”
Here is a complete list of ESPY Award nominees:
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 Dodgers
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