2026 ESPY Awards

Comedian Marcello Hernández will host the ceremony.^[1]

Best Athlete, Men's Sports Jalen Brunson – New York Knicks, NBA Matthew Stafford – Los Angeles Rams, NFL Shohei Ohtani – Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB Lionel Messi – Inter Miami FC, MLS	Best Athlete, Women's Sports Mikaela Shiffrin – Alpine Skiing Hilary Knight – USA Hockey/Seattle Torrent, PWHL Nelly Korda – Golf A'ja Wilson – Las Vegas Aces, WNBA
Best Breakthrough Athlete Alysa Liu – Figure Skating Fernando Mendoza – Indiana Hoosiers football Drake Maye – New England Patriots, NFL Macklin Celebrini – San Jose Sharks, NHL	Best Comeback Athlete Anthony Kim – Golf Kyndal Stowers – Texas A&M volleyball Christian McCaffrey – San Francisco 49ers, NFL Savy King – Angel City FC, NWSL
Best College Athlete, Men's Sports Cameron Boozer – Duke basketball Mitchell Mesenbrink – Penn State wrestling Fernando Mendoza – Indiana football Donavan Phillip – NC State soccer	Best College Athlete, Women's Sports Lauren Betts – UCLA basketball Madison Taylor – Northwestern lacrosse Faith Torrez – Oklahoma gymnastics Olivia Babcock – Pittsburgh volleyball
Best Team Seattle Seahawks – NFL Texas Longhorns – Women's College World Series Indiana Hoosiers – NCAA Football Las Vegas Aces – WNBA New York Knicks – NBA Carolina Hurricanes – NHL Los Angeles Dodgers – MLB Team USA Women's Hockey – 2026 Winter Olympics Team USA Men's Hockey – 2026 Winter Olympics	Best Championship Performance Jalen Brunson – New York Knicks Teagan Kavan – Texas Longhorns softball Aerin Frankel – USA Women's Hockey Connor Hellebuyck – USA Men's Hockey
Best Athlete with a Disability Jake Adicoff – Paralympic Nordic skiing Declan Farmer – Sledge hockey Oksana Masters – Paralympic cross-country skiing Susannah Scaroni – Wheelchair racing	Best Play USA Women's Hockey – Golden Goal for Gold! USA Men's Hockey – Golden Goal for Gold! Braylon Mullins – Buzzer-beater 3 for UConn to beat Duke in NCAA Men’s March Madness OG Anunoby – Tip-In to win game 4 of the NBA Finals Caleb Williams – Game Tying TD vs. Rams
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 skiing – first athlete to win six golds at Winter Games Sabastian Sawe, Long-distance running – first to finish a marathon in under two hours	Best Single-Game Performance 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 Tyce Armstrong, Baylor baseball – hit three grand slams in a single game, tying a record set 50 years ago
Best NFL Player Myles Garrett – Cleveland Browns Drake Maye – New England Patriots Jaxon Smith-Njigba – Seattle Seahawks Matthew Stafford – Los Angeles Rams	Best NHL Player Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado Avalanche Macklin Celebrini – San Jose Sharks
Best NBA Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Oklahoma City Thunder Nikola Jokić – Denver Nuggets Jalen Brunson – New York Knicks Victor Wembanyama – San Antonio Spurs	Best WNBA Player A'ja Wilson – Las Vegas Aces Napheesa Collier – Minnesota Lynx Allisha Gray – Atlanta Dream Alyssa Thomas – Phoenix Mercury
Best MLB Player Shohei Ohtani – Los Angeles Dodgers Aaron Judge – New York Yankees Cal Raleigh – Seattle Mariners Paul Skenes – Pittsburgh Pirates	Best Soccer Player Temwa Chawinga – KC Current Ousmane Dembélé – PSG/France Lionel Messi – Inter Miami CF Alexia Putellas – FC Barcelona/Spain
Best Golfer Scottie Scheffler Rory Mcllroy Nelly Korda Jeeno Thitikul	Best Fighter Claressa Shields - Boxing Terence Crawford – Boxing Gabriela Fundora – Boxing Justin Gaethje – MMA
Best Driver Lando Norris – Formula One Álex Palou – IndyCar Kimi Antonelli – Formula One Tyler Reddick – NASCAR	Best Tennis Player Jannik Sinner Carlos Alcaraz Aryna Sabalenka Elena Rybakina

Jimmy V Award

• Jim Abbott

Arthur Ashe Courage Award

• Jason Collins^[a]

Pat Tillman Award for Service

• Scott Ruskan

Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award finalists

• Adam Thielen
• Damar Hamlin
• Stephen Curry

Sports Philanthropist of the Year Award

• Laurie Tisch

Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year finalists

• Baltimore Ravens
• Charlotte Hornets
• Cleveland Browns
• Seattle Storm

Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award

• Julia Howe
• Kelis Armstrong
• Sam Phillips

Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award

• Jeffrey Lurie