Jalen Brunson, Lionel Messi & More Score ESPYS 2026 Nominations

ESPYS 2025: Shane Gillis Roasts Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson With Age-Gap Jokes

Athletes are gearing up for the biggest night in sports.

And no, we’re not talking about the Super Bowl or the release of Heated Rivalry season two. The nominations for the ESPY Awards—being held on July 15 with comedian Marcello Hernández booked to host from Lincoln Center in New York City—have been released, with athletes across college and professional sports being recognized for their efforts.

What makes this year’s ESPYs particularly exciting is that the performances from the 2026 Winter Olympic Games are eligible, with the U.S. men and women’s hockey teams both in the running for best play and best team for their gold-medal winning games.

Norwegian Cross-country skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is also nominated for Best Record-Breaking Performance for being the first athlete to win six gold medals in a single Olympic Winter Games while figure skater Alysa Liu has been nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete.

Among those nominated for Best Athlete in men and women’s sports are basketball stars A’ja Wilson and Jalen Brunson—captain of the NBA Championship-winning New York Knicks—soccer player Lionel Messi, MLB pitcher Shohei Ohtani, reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford, women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight and golf pro Nelly Korda.

In addition to Brunson’s Best Athlete nod, he’s also been nominated for Best Championship Performance (after all, he did score a whopping 45 points in the Knicks’ final game against the San Antonio Spurs). His teammate OG Anunoby was also recognized or his championship performance with his critical tip-in nominated for Best Play.

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

As for some of the athletes nominated as the top players in their sport or leagues, Myles Garrett and Drake Maye have been nominated from the NFL, Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh from the MLB, Napheesa Collier and Alyssa Thomas from the WNBA, Carlos Alcaraz and Elena Rybakina for tennis as well as Macklin Celebrini and Nathan MacKinnon from the NHL.

Brunson has been nominated for best NBA player, as has his championship rival Victor Wembanyama, who plays for the San Antonio Spurs. Joining them are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic.

But there are many more where they came from; for the complete list of 2026 ESPY Award nominees—including the collegiate athletes that earned nods—read on.

BEST ATHLETE, MEN’S SPORTS

Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks

Lionel Messi, Inter Miami CF

Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers

Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams

BEST ATHLETE, WOMEN’S SPORTS

Hilary Knight, Hockey

Nelly Korda, Golf

Mikaela Shiffrin, Ski

A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

BEST BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE

Macklin Celebrini, San Jose Sharks

Alysa Liu, Figure Skating

Drake Maye, New England Patriots

Fernando Mendoza, Indiana Football

BEST RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE

Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns – broke the NFL single-season sack record

Megan Grant, UCLA Softball – broke the NCAA single-season softball home run record

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Cross-Country Skier – first athlete to win six golds at Winter Games

Sabastian Sawe, Long-Distance Runner – first to finish a marathon in under two hours

Maja Hitij - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images

BEST CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCE

Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks

Aerin Frankel, USA Women’s Hockey

Connor Hellebuyck, USA Men’s Hockey

Teagan Kavan, Texas Longhorns Softball

BEST COMEBACK ATHLETE

Anthony Kim, Golf

Savy King, Angel City FC

Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

Kyndal Stowers, Texas A&M Volleyball

BEST PLAY

Golden Goal for Gold! – Olympic Women’s Hockey

Golden Goal for Gold! – Olympic Men’s Hockey

UConn stuns Duke with Braylon Mullins’ buzzer-beating 3 – NCAA Men’s March Madness

OG Anunoby’s Tip-In – NBA Finals

Caleb Williams Game Tying TD vs. Rams – NFL

BEST TEAM

Las Vegas Aces, WNBA

Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB

Indiana Hoosiers, NCAA Football

Carolina Hurricanes, NHL

New York Knicks, NBA

Texas Longhorns, NCAA Softball

Seattle Seahawks, NFL

Team USA Men’s Hockey

Team USA Women’s Hockey

Andy Cheung/Getty Images

BEST SINGLE-GAME PERFORMANCE

Tyce Armstrong, Baylor Baseball – hit three grand slams in a single game, tying a record set 50 years ago

Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat – scored 83 points for the Miami Heat in a 150–129 win against the Washington Wizards, recording the second-highest single-game total in NBA history

Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame Basketball – broke the NCAA record for most steals (16) in a game

Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers – pitched six scoreless innings, struck out 10 batters and hit three home runs

BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE, MEN’S SPORTS

Cameron Boozer, Duke Basketball

Fernando Mendoza, Indiana Football

Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State Wrestling

Donavan Phillip, NC State Soccer

BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE, WOMEN’S SPORTS

Olivia Babcock, Pittsburgh Volleyball

Lauren Betts, UCLA Basketball

Madison Taylor, Northwestern Lacrosse

Faith Torrez, Oklahoma Gymnastics

BEST ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY

Jake Adicoff, Para Nordic-Skiing

Declan Farmer, Para Hockey

Oksana Masters, Para Cross-Country Skiing

Susannah Scaroni, Wheelchair Racing

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

BEST NFL PLAYER

Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns

Drake Maye, New England Patriots

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle Seahawks

Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams

BEST MLB PLAYER

Aaron Judge, New York Yankees

Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers

Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners

Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates

BEST NHL PLAYER

Macklin Celebrini, San Jose Sharks

Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning

Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche

Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

BEST NBA PLAYER

Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder

Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets

Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs

BEST WNBA PLAYER

Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx

Allisha Gray, Atlanta Dream

Alyssa Thomas, Phoenix Mercury

A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images

BEST DRIVER

Kimi Antonelli, F1

Lando Norris, F1

Alex Palou, IndyCar

Tyler Reddick, NASCAR

BEST FIGHTER

Terence Crawford, Boxing

Gabriela Fundora, Boxing

Justin Gaethje, MMA

Claressa Shields, Boxing

BEST SOCCER PLAYER

Temwa Chawinga, KC Current

Ousmane Dembélé, PSG/France

Lionel Messi, Inter Miami CF

Alexia Putellas, Spain/Barcelona

BEST GOLFER

Nelly Korda

Rory McIlroy

Scottie Scheffler

Jeeno Thitikul

BEST TENNIS PLAYER

Carlos Alcaraz

Elena Rybakina

Aryna Sabalenka

Jannik Sinner

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