Moments from the 2025 ESPY Awards that Deserve Their Own Award
Olympic Gymnast Simone Biles at the 2025 ESPY Awards (Mark J. Terrill | Associated Press)
The 2025 ESPY Awards gave us everything we needed - from smiles to tears to pride (especially while seeing our founder’s live coverage on the Sportsish Instagram). Still, we figured there were a few moments outside of the regular awards that needed special features - here are our moments from the ESPYs that deserved their own awards:
Everyone’s In Their Basketball Era
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander accepting the award for Best Athlete: Men’s Sports at the ESPYS (Kevin Winter | Getty Images)
Between all four “Best Athlete” awards for professional and collegiate sports and a men’s and women’s award, basketball athletes won three out of four. It’s safe to say that, especially after ground-breaking performances throughout all avenues of basketball this year, everyone’s in their basketball era.
Professional Men’s: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Collegiate Women’s: JuJu Watkins, University of Southern California
Collegiate Men’s: Cooper Flagg, Duke University
(The best women’s professional athlete award went to none other than Ms. Simone Biles!)
Simone and Flau’jae’s Complementary Blue Dresses
Simone Biles accepting her award for Best Performance, announced by Busta Rhymes and Falu’jae Johnson (Christopher Polk | Getty Images)
Speaking of Simone, she won the first on-stage award of the night for the Best Championship Performance for her 2024 Olympics All-Around, presented by Busta Rhymes and Flau’jae Johnson of LSU Basketball. Simone and Flau’jae both had on glittering blue dresses, and while they were different styles and slightly different shades of blue, they both looked absolutely stunning and complemented each other well on stage.
Alyssa Thompson and Paige Bueckers Honor Alex Morgan and Diana Taurasi
Taurasi and Morgan with their ESPY Awards (Christopher Polk/Penske Media | Getty Images)
Two young stars helped usher Alex Morgan and Diana Taurasi into icon-dom, and the best possible choices for cameos were their mini-mes, Alyssa Thompson and Paige Bueckers. The Icon Award was presented to the two recent retirees for their remarkable careers, which helped change the landscape of soccer and basketball, respectively, paving the way for young women to be inspired to pursue sports with the passion and drive that Morgan and Taurasi displayed throughout their careers.
Alyssa Thompson, a forward for Angel FC, spoke about how Alex Morgan’s plays and ability to score in tense situations inspired her to choose her position and showed her that she could be great someday, too. Paige Bueckers, a guard from the Dallas Wings, also attended Taurasi’s alma mater, UConn, and explained how DT’s attitude, confidence, and fiery passion on the basketball court have inspired her over the years. It was a beautiful tribute to both Morgan and Taurasi to have the young women they inspired speak during their tribute video, a clear sign that everything they did to inspire young girls ultimately paid off.
Ilona Maher is Miss Congeniality
USA Rugby star and Olympian Ilona Maher accepting her ESPY award for Best Breakthrough Athlete (ESPN)
There’s probably very few people who didn’t see this one coming, but Ilona Maher deserved a Miss Congeniality award for her constantly sunshine-y behavior the entire night. From accepting her award (Best Breakthrough Athlete) with jokes, pride, and encouragement for other women to stay confident in themselves, to returning to the stage with a smile to announce the Icon Award, Maher consistently brought smiles and laughs to the audience, both in person and at home.
Most Motivated and Heart-Wrenching Speeches: Katie Schumacher and Erin Regan/David Walters
These two acceptance speeches had us all in tears: Penn State Volleyball Head Coach Katie Schumacher was honored with the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance after a battle with breast cancer while winning the 2024 Volleyball National Championship, and that of former collegiate athletes Erin Regan and David Walters, accepting the Pat Tillman Award for Service for their incredible and heroic work firefighting in the Los Angeles fires earlier this year.
Both of these speeches were heart-wrenching but motivating all the while. Schumacher’s speech focused on the incredible support system around her, as well as the drive and passion that motivated her to get out of bed and practice after chemotherapy sessions, ensuring that the Penn State Volleyball team played their best. David Walters and Erin Regan spoke about how being firefighters is reminiscent of the brother/sisterhood of a collegiate sports team, and about how they are honored to carry on the legacy of Pat Tillman, a football player who left professional sports to enlist in the United States Military in the wake of 9/11/2001.
Most Total Awards: Philadelphia Eagles’ Saquon Barkley
Saquon Barkley's award-winning hurdle play (Chris Szagoda | AP Photo)
It’s clear that Saquon Barkley of the Super Bowl LIX Champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, was the man of the night. Although he couldn't be in attendance to accept his awards, he ended up taking home the most awards of anyone at the show, with three total for his performance during the 2024-2025 NFL season.
Barkley won the “Best Play” award for his backwards hurdle over a Jaguars defender, the “Best NFL Player” award, and got to share one more award with his Eagles after they won “Best Team.”