Lil Wayne & H.E.R. Perform, Angel Reese Wins at 2023 ESPY Awards

The dividing line between music fans and sports fans was all but erased at the 31st annual ESPY Awards, which were presented at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday (July 12).

Lil Wayne opened the show performing his 2008 hit “A Milli.” H.E.R. performed her latest single, the elegant power ballad “The Journey,” as a tribute to the 30th anniversary of basketball coach Jimmy Valvano’s inspirational speech at the first ESPYS in 1993 when he was terminally ill with cancer.

Several other music stars were also on board for the three-hour show, which was telecast on ABC. Quavo and Lil Dicky were among the presenters. Common narrated a segment paying tribute to Liam Hendriks, who battled back from Stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Angel Reese, who won best breakthrough athlete for leading the Louisiana State University women’s basketball team to the college title this past spring, has become a pop-culture star. Reese recently made a cameo in Latto’s “Put It On Da Floor Again” music video, in which featured act Cardi B raps, “I been ballin’ so damn hard could’ve went to LSU.”

This is the second year in a row that a woman has won in the gender-neutral best breakthrough athlete category. Skier Eileen Gu won last year. This is the first time in the history of the ESPYS that women have won back-to-back awards in this category.

Reese competed in the category with Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark, her NCAA finals foe. But Clark also won an award this year – best college athlete, women’s sports.

Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs won two awards – best athlete, men’s sports and best NFL player. The Chiefs also won as best team. Argentina soccer superstar Lionel Messi also won two awards – best championship performance and best soccer player.

ESPN sports analyst Pat McAfee gave an opening monologue, though there was no formal host, due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike.

The show, which was co-produced by ESPN and Full Day Productions, was a lot like a music awards show in a couple of respects. Even with a generous three-hour time slot, it ran over by about 10 minutes. And only eight competitive awards were announced on the show. The other 14 competitive awards didn’t rate so much as a mention (but we have them here for you).

Here’s the full list of winners, including special awards and sports humanitarian awards.

Best Athlete, Men’s Sports
Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
Aaron Judge, New York Yankees
WINNER: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Lionel Messi, Argentina

Best Athlete, Women’s Sports
WINNER: Mikaela Shiffrin, Ski
Sophia Smith, Portland Thorns
Iga Świątek, Tennis
A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

Best Breakthrough Athlete
Caitlin Clark, Iowa Women’s Basketball
Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
WINNER: Angel Reese, LSU Women’s Basketball
Julio Rodríguez, Seattle Mariners

Best Record-Breaking Performance
–Novak Djokovic wins his 23rd Grand Slam title, breaking a tie with Rafael Nadal for the most major singles trophies in the history of men’s tennis.
–WINNER: LeBron James surpasses Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for NBA career scoring record.
–Mikaela Shiffrin breaks the record for the most World Cup victories with her 87th win.
–Max Verstappen wins the Mexican Grand Prix, breaking the record for most wins in a season.

Best Championship Performance
–Leon Edwards, UFC – defeats Kamaru Usman by fifth-round KO to win UFC welterweight title, handing Usman his first UFC loss.
–Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets – 2023 NBA Finals MVP.
–WINNER: Lionel Messi, Argentina – 2022 World Cup Final – scored two goals and scored in the penalty shootout to win Man of the Match. He won the Golden Ball as FIFA’s best player of the tournament.
–Rose Zhang, LPGA – defeated Jennifer Kupcho in a two-hole sudden death playoff, becoming the first woman in 72 years to win her first professional start.

Best Comeback Athlete
–Jon Jones, UFC – Jones’ first fight in the UFC since 2020. He was last seen in action against Dominick Reyes, where he defended his light-heavyweight championship at UFC 247.
–WINNER: Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets – Murray missed the entirety of last season due to a torn ACL in his left knee. He suffered the injury on April 12, 2021, and didn’t play in the 18 months since then.
–Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut Sun – 2022 WNBA Comeback Player of the Year. Thomas missed all but six games last season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. The eight-year veteran started all 36 of Connecticut’s games in 2022, and was an All-Star earlier this season.
–Justin Verlander, Current New York Mets / Houston Astros – 2022 NL Comeback Player of the Year, after being limited to only six innings in 2020 and missing the entire ’21 season due to Tommy John surgery, the Astros’ ace returned this season to go 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA.