Caitlin Clark, Boston Celtics Among Our 2024 ESPY Choices

by Eric Fulton & Julian Spivey

The 32nd annual ESPY Awards will be held on Thursday, July 11, 2014 from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. The telecast can be seen on ABC at 7 p.m. (CST) with re-runs on the ESPN networks. The ESPYs are a fan-voted award for the best in sports. 

Here are the winners we would like to see honored this year ... 

Best Team:
Nominees: Boston Celtics, Oklahoma Sooners Softball, UCONN Huskies Men’s Basketball, Las Vegas Aces, Michigan Wolverines Football, Kansas City Chiefs, South Carolina Gamecocks Women’s Basketball, Florida Panthers, Texas Rangers  

Our Winner: Boston Celtics
You can pick the best team in sports a few different ways, and each way is a valid option. There is the most surprising team to win a title, which I believe would be the Texas Rangers in baseball. There’s the team amid a dynasty, which would be the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. And then there’s the best overall and most dominant team of their given sport, and, in my opinion, this year, that was the NBA champion Boston Celtics. The Celtics title felt like it was a few years in the making, and they thoroughly dominated the NBA this season, finishing 14 games better than the next-best team in the Eastern Conference and seven games better than the next-best team in the league. Their path through the NBA postseason seemed like a cakewalk as dominant as the team was. JS

Best Athlete: Men’s Sports
Nominees: Patrick Mahomes, Shohei Ohtani, Scottie Scheffler, Connor McDavid

Our Winner: Shohei Ohtani
Patrick Mahomes won his third Super Bowl in the last half-decade, Scottie Scheffler is on the biggest golf heater since the heyday of Tiger Woods and Connor McDavid does hockey well, I suppose, but there’s only one guy on this list who does everything in his sport and does it well, and that’s Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sure, he’s not pitching this season due to surgery, but he was one of the best last season for the Los Angeles Angels, made the biggest free agent splashes in the history of pro sports signing with the Dodgers, and continues to be one of the most feared hitters in the game. JS  

Best Athlete: Women’s Sports
Nominees: Caitlin Clark, Coco Gauff, Nelly Korda, A’ja Wilson

Our Winner: Caitlin Clark
All of these women have had fantastic years. Still, there’s only one who has transformed an entire sport from more of a niche thing to one of the most talked about sports in the country, and that was what Caitlin Clark did for not only women’s college basketball but also the WNBA now that she’s playing professional. The all-time leading scorer in college basketball history was drafted by the Indiana Fever and is now in the midst of one of the greatest rookie seasons in the history of that league. This is a no-brainer. JS

Best Recording-Breaking Performance:
Nominees: Christian McCaffrey scores a touchdown in 17-straight games, Caitlin Clark crowned NCAA All-Time Scoring Leader, Tara Vanderveer is winningest coach in NCAA basketball history, Max Verstappen wins a record 10th consecutive race

Our Winner: Caitlin Clark
All of these were wonderful record-breaking achievements but for Caitlin Clark to not only become the all-time leading scorer in women’s college basketball history but also the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history, whether women or men, all the while transforming women’s basketball into one of the most watched and talked about sports in the country makes her record-breaking performance an easy selection. JS

Best Championship Performance
Nominees: Blake Corum & Will Johnson, Kayla Martello, Midge Purce, Jaylen Brown

Our Winner: Jaylen Brown
Brown won the Larry Bird (Eastern Conference Finals) MVP and the Bill Russell (NBA Finals) MVP to help lead the Boston Celtics to their first NBA title since 2008. The Celtics had an incredible run to the championship, led by Brown, going 16-3 in the NBA postseason. EF

Best Breakthrough Athlete
Nominees: Haleigh Bryant, C.J. Stroud, Juju Watkins, Victor Wembanyama

Our Winner: Victor Wembanyana
Victor Wembanyana was drafted first overall by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2023 NBA Draft and immediately impacted the court. “Wemby” averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds per game in his first NBA season. He led the NBA in blocks per game with 3.6 and was named to the All-Rookie Team, All-Defensive Team and won Rookie of the Year in 2024. EF

Best Comeback Athlete
Nominees: Simone Biles, Paige Bueckers, Joe Flacco, Zion Williamson

Our Winner: Simone Biles
This one feels like it’s still in the making because I’m expecting Simone Biles to have a huge 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris after mostly pulling out of the 2020 Tokyo Games (in 2021) to focus on mental health issues. Biles is back on top of the game, racking up championships at the U.S. and World Gymnastics Championships. I’m frankly shocked she wasn’t nominated for Best Female Athlete by the ESPYs, but hopefully, this honor will do. JS

Best NFL Player:
Nominees: Myles Garrett, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Christian McCaffrey

Our Winner: Patrick Mahomes
This might be our most controversial choice because it’s Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who was named NFL MVP for the second time in his career and can do it all on the field, throwing and running the ball. Still, ultimately, we have to go with the face of the game, the guy consistently winning championships, and that’s Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes would surely trade the MVP for winning another Super Bowl ring. JS

Best MLB Player:
Nominees: Ronald Acuna Jr., Gerrit Cole, Shohei Ohtani, Corey Seager

Our Winner: Shohei Ohtani
I want to go with Atlanta Braves superstar outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. here because his 2023 season saw him as the first player in Major League Baseball history to hit 40 homers and steal 75 bases. Still, his torn ACL has him out for most of the 2024 season, which hurts his case. Also, hurting his case is there’s nobody in baseball right now bigger than L.A. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, who gives baseball probably its first household name since Derek Jeter retired. JS

Best NBA Player:
Nominees: Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Jayson Tatum

Our Winner: Nikola Jokic
Jayson Tatum led the Boston Celtics to their first NBA title in over a decade but he’s also basically part of a two-headed monster leading that team. I have to go with Nikola Jokic, who won his third career NBA MVP this season after leading the Denver Nuggets to the first title in franchise history the year prior. Jokic is a unicorn of a player who can do it all on the court despite seemingly having less athleticism than most players in the league and is a walking triple-double. JS

Best College Athlete: Men’s Sports
Nominees: Jayden Daniels, Zach Edey, Ousmane Sylla, Pat Kavanagh

Our Winner: Jayden Daniels
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels won the 2023 Heisman Trophy, leading the Tigers to nine wins. Daniels totaled 4,946 yards in both running and passing in 2023, with 50 touchdowns (40 passing and 10 rushing). The Washington Commanders drafted him second in the 2024 NFL Draft. EF

Best College Athlete: Women's Sports
Nominees: Haleigh Bryant, Caitlin Clark, Sarah Franklin, Izzy Scane

Our Winner: Catlin Clark
Caitlin Clark has been the face and the name of women's basketball in the last couple of years. She broke the NCAA Women's Basketball's all-time scoring record and is now making a huge impact in the WNBA. EF

Best WNBA Player
Nominees: Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas, A’ja Wilson

Our Winner: A'ja Wilson
A’ja Wilson has led the Las Vegas Aces to back-to-back WNBA championships. The 2022 WNBA MVP won the WNBA Finals MVP in 2023 and will represent the USA in the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Paris. EF

Best NHL Player
Nominees: Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid

Our Winner: Connor McDavid
Connor McDavid had another great season, leading the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final. McDavid had 132 points in the regular season, 100 were assists. During the Oilers' Playoff Run, McDavid scored 42 points, 34 of which were assists. McDavid was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy despite the Oilers losing the Stanley Cup Final. (Only the sixth player in history on the losing end of the Stanley Cup Final to win the Conn Smythe Trophy). EF 

Best Tennis Player
Nominees: Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek

Our Winner: Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek has been the world's No. 1 women's tennis player since 2022 and has held that position for 110 weeks. Swiatek made it to at least the fourth round in all four major tournaments in 2023. She just won her fourth French Open title in the last five years. EF

Best Golfer
Nominees: Nelly Korda, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Lilia Vu

Our Winner: Scottie Scheffler
Nelly Korda had quite the run earlier this year in the LPGA with a record-tying five consecutive tournament wins. Still, nobody has been hotter in the golfing world than PGA Tour star Scottie Scheffler, who has won six tournaments just halfway through the year, including his second Masters title in the last three years. No one has had a run like the one Scheffler has been on this year since the heyday of Tiger Woods. JS  

Best Soccer Player
Nominees: Aitana Bonmati, Naomi Girma, Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe

Our Winner: Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe became captain of the French National Soccer Team in March 2023. He spent the last seven years playing for Paris Saint-German, scoring 175 goals in 205 appearances. He will play for Real Madrid later in 2024. EF

Best UFC Fighter
Nominees: Islam Makhachev, Sean O’Malley, Alex Pereira, Zhang Weili

Our Winner: Islam Makhachev
Islam Makhachev is the current UFC lightweight champion and is 26-1 in his UFC career. His last and only loss came in 2015. Since that loss, Makhachev has won 14 straight UFC fights, including the lightweight championship he has held since 2022. EF

Best Driver
Nominees: Ryan Blaney, Matt Hagan, Alex Palou, Max Verstappen

Our Winner: Max Verstappen
Formula 1 is the least competitive of all the motorsports series in this category (NASCAR, NHRA and IndyCar being the other three). However, Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing has been on such a heater over the last few years (likely the best in F1 history) that picking another driver would be fool-hearted. Verstappen is expected to win every F1 race these days and often does. JS