# Best Male Athlete ESPY Award

The Best Male Athlete ESPY Award, known alternatively as the Outstanding Male Athlete ESPY Award, is an annual award honoring the achievements of individual men from the world of sports. It has been presented annually at the ESPY Awards (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) since 1993 to the male voted irrespective of nationality or sport contested, adjudged to be the best athlete in a given calendar year. The Best Male Athlete ESPY Award trophy, designed by sculptor Lawrence Nowlan, is presented to the recipient at an annual ceremony in Los Angeles. Since 2004, the winner has been chosen by online balloting through three to five choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee. Before that, determination of the winners was made by an panel of experts. Through the 2001 iteration of the ESPY Awards, ceremonies were conducted in February of each year to honor achievements over the previous calendar year; awards presented thereafter are conferred in July and reflect performance from the June previous.
The inaugural winner of the Best Male Athlete ESPY Award was basketball player Michael Jordan in 1993. Four American athletes, golfer Tiger Woods, road cyclist Lance Armstrong, basketball player LeBron James, and American football player Patrick Mahomes have won the award multiple times. Woods was honored five times: in 1998 (jointly with baseball player Ken Griffey Jr.), 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2008. Armstrong was honored four times from 2003 to 2006 inclusive. James received the award on three occasions in 2012, 2013 and 2016. Mahomes received the award twice in 2023 and 2024. Basketball is the most successful sport, its players having received a total of nine awards and thirty-three nominations since its inception, followed by American football players with six wins and twenty-seven nominations. The award has been won by a non-American four times – in 2011 by German basketball player Dirk Nowitzki, in 2018 by Russian hockey player Alex Ovechkin, in 2019 by Greek basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo and in 2022 by Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani. All four were playing for American teams. It was not awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Winners and nominees

Winners and nominees of the Best Male Athlete ESPY Award :
| Year | Image | Athlete | Nation | Sport | Nominees |
| 1993 | | Michael Jordan | USA | Basketball | Dennis Eckersley ( USA) – Baseball Mario Lemieux ( CAN) – Ice hockey Emmitt Smith ( USA) – American football Steve Young ( USA) – American football |
| 1994 | | Barry Bonds | USA | Baseball | Charles Barkley ( USA) – Basketball Mario Lemieux ( CAN) – Ice hockey Nigel Mansell ( GBR) – Motorsport Charlie Ward ( USA) – College football |
| 1995 | | Steve Young | USA | American football | George Foreman ( USA) – Boxing Hakeem Olajuwon ( USA) – Basketball Barry Sanders ( USA) – American football |
| 1996 | | Cal Ripken Jr. | USA | Baseball | Greg Maddux ( USA) – Baseball Hakeem Olajuwon ( USA) – Basketball |
| 1997 | | Michael Johnson | USA | Track and field | Michael Jordan ( USA) – Basketball Tiger Woods ( USA) – Golf |
| 1998 | | Tiger Woods | USA | Golf | Michael Jordan ( USA) – Basketball Barry Sanders ( USA) – American football |
| 1998 | | Ken Griffey Jr. | USA | Baseball | Michael Jordan ( USA) – Basketball Barry Sanders ( USA) – American football |
| 1999 | | Mark McGwire | USA | Baseball | Terrell Davis ( USA) – American football Jeff Gordon ( USA) – NASCAR Michael Jordan ( USA) – Basketball Sammy Sosa ( DOM) – Baseball |
| 2000 | | Tiger Woods (2) | USA | Golf | Tim Duncan ( USA) – Basketball Pedro Martínez ( DOM) – Baseball |
| 2001 | | Tiger Woods (3) | USA | Golf | Lance Armstrong USA) – Road cycling Shaquille O'Neal ( USA) – Basketball |
| 2002 | | Tiger Woods (4) | USA | Golf | Lance Armstrong ( USA) – Road cycling Barry Bonds ( USA) – Baseball Shaquille O'Neal ( USA) – Basketball Cael Sanderson ( USA) – Collegiate wrestling |
| 2003 | | Lance Armstrong | USA | Road cycling | Barry Bonds ( USA) – Baseball Tim Duncan ( USA) – Basketball Tiger Woods ( USA) – Golf |
| 2004 | | Lance Armstrong (2) | USA | Road cycling | Barry Bonds ( USA) – Baseball Tom Brady ( USA) – American football Kevin Garnett ( USA) – Basketball Peyton Manning ( USA) – American football |
| 2005 | | Lance Armstrong (3) | USA | Road cycling | Peyton Manning ( USA) – American football Bode Miller ( USA) – Skiing Michael Phelps ( USA) – Swimming Vijay Singh ( FIJ) – Golf |
| 2006 | | Lance Armstrong (4) | USA | Road cycling | Shaun Alexander ( USA) – American football LeBron James ( USA) – Basketball Albert Pujols ( DOM) – Baseball Vince Young ( USA) – College football |
| 2007 | | LaDainian Tomlinson | USA | American football | Roger Federer ( SUI) – Tennis LeBron James ( USA) – Basketball Peyton Manning ( USA) – American football Tiger Woods ( USA) – Golf |
| 2008 | | Tiger Woods (5) | USA | Golf | Tom Brady ( USA) – American football Kobe Bryant ( USA) – Basketball Alex Rodriguez ( USA) – Baseball |
| 2009 | | Michael Phelps | USA | Swimming | Kobe Bryant ( USA) – Basketball LeBron James ( USA) – Basketball Jimmie Johnson ( USA) – NASCAR |
| 2010 | | Drew Brees | USA | American football | Kobe Bryant ( USA) – Basketball LeBron James ( USA) – Basketball Jimmie Johnson ( USA) – NASCAR Albert Pujols ( DOM) – Baseball |
| 2011 | | Dirk Nowitzki | DEU | Basketball | Jimmie Johnson ( USA) – NASCAR Rafael Nadal ( ESP) – Tennis Aaron Rodgers ( USA) – American football |
| 2012 | | LeBron James | USA | Basketball | Novak Djokovic ( SER) – Tennis Aaron Rodgers ( USA) – American football Justin Verlander ( USA) – Baseball |
| 2013 | | LeBron James (2) | USA | Basketball | Miguel Cabrera ( VEN) – Baseball Adrian Peterson ( USA) – American football Michael Phelps ( USA) – Swimming |
| 2014 | | Kevin Durant | USA | Basketball | Miguel Cabrera ( VEN) – Baseball Peyton Manning ( USA) – American football Floyd Mayweather Jr. ( USA) – Boxing |
| 2015 | | Stephen Curry | USA | Basketball | LeBron James ( USA) – Basketball Aaron Rodgers ( USA) – American football J. J. Watt ( USA) – American football |
| 2016 | | LeBron James (3) | USA | Basketball | Stephen Curry ( USA) – Basketball Bryce Harper ( USA) – Baseball Cam Newton ( USA) – American football |
| 2017 | | Russell Westbrook | USA | Basketball | Kris Bryant ( USA) – Baseball Sidney Crosby ( CAN) – Ice hockey Michael Phelps ( USA) – Swimming |
| 2018 | | Alexander Ovechkin | RUS | Ice hockey | Jose Altuve ( VEN) – Baseball Tom Brady ( USA) – American football James Harden ( USA) – Basketball |
| 2019 | | Giannis Antetokounmpo | GRE | Basketball | Mookie Betts ( USA) – Baseball Brooks Koepka ( USA) – Golf Patrick Mahomes ( USA) – American football |
| 2020 | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | | Tom Brady | USA | American football | Lewis Hamilton ( GBR) – Formula One Nikola Jokić ( SER) – Basketball Connor McDavid ( CAN) – Ice hockey |
| 2022 | | Shohei Ohtani | JPN | Baseball | Stephen Curry ( USA) – Basketball Connor McDavid ( CAN) – Ice hockey Aaron Rodgers ( USA) – American football |
| 2023 | | Patrick Mahomes | USA | American football | Nikola Jokić ( SER) – Basketball Aaron Judge ( USA) – Baseball Lionel Messi ( ARG) – Soccer |
| 2024 | | Patrick Mahomes (2) | USA | American football | Connor McDavid ( CAN) – Ice hockey Shohei Ohtani ( JPN) – Baseball Scottie Scheffler ( USA) – Golf |

## Statistics

Multiple winners and nominees :
| Name | Wins | Nominations |
| Tiger Woods | 5 | 8 |
| Lance Armstrong | 4 | 6 |
| LeBron James | 3 | 8 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 2 | 3 |
| Barry Bonds | 1 | 4 |
| Tom Brady | 1 | 4 |
| Michael Jordan | 1 | 4 |
| Michael Phelps | 1 | 4 |
| Stephen Curry | 1 | 3 |
| Shohei Ohtani | 1 | 2 |
| Steve Young | 1 | 2 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | 1 | 1 |
| Drew Brees | 1 | 1 |
| Kevin Durant | 1 | 1 |
| Ken Griffey Jr. | 1 | 1 |
| Michael Johnson | 1 | 1 |
| Mark McGwire | 1 | 1 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 1 | 1 |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 1 | 1 |
| Cal Ripken Jr. | 1 | 1 |
| LaDainian Tomlinson | 1 | 1 |
| Russell Westbrook | 1 | 1 |
| Peyton Manning | 0 | 4 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 0 | 4 |
| Kobe Bryant | 0 | 3 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 0 | 3 |
| Connor McDavid | 0 | 3 |
| Miguel Cabrera | 0 | 2 |
| Tim Duncan | 0 | 2 |
| Nikola Jokić | 0 | 2 |
| Mario Lemieux | 0 | 2 |
| Hakeem Olajuwon | 0 | 2 |
| Shaquille O'Neal | 0 | 2 |
| Albert Pujols | 0 | 2 |
| Barry Sanders | 0 | 2 |
Winners by nationality :
| Country | Winners | Nominations |
| USA | 28 | 76 |
| DEU | 1 | 1 |
| GRE | 1 | 1 |
| RUS | 1 | 1 |
| JPN | 1 | 2 |
| DOM | 0 | 4 |
| CAN | 0 | 6 |
| VEN | 0 | 3 |
| SER | 0 | 3 |
| ARG | 0 | 1 |
| ESP | 0 | 1 |
| GBR | 0 | 1 |
| FIJ | 0 | 1 |
| SUI | 0 | 1 |
Winners by sport :
| Sport | Winners | Nominations |
| Basketball | 9 | 33 |
| American football | 6 | 27 |
| Baseball | 5 | 24 |
| Golf | 5 | 11 |
| Road cycling | 4 | 6 |
| Ice hockey | 1 | 7 |
| Swimming | 1 | 4 |
| Track and field | 1 | 1 |
| NASCAR | 0 | 4 |
| Tennis | 0 | 3 |
| Boxing | 0 | 2 |
| College football | 0 | 2 |
| Collegiate wrestling | 0 | 1 |
| Formula One | 0 | 1 |
| Motorsport | 0 | 1 |
| Skiing | 0 | 1 |
| Soccer | 0 | 1 |