Biles, Gilgeous-Alexander, Eagles win top honors at 2025 Espys

Los Angeles-NBA final MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Olympic champion gymnast Simone Biles won the best male and female athletes at The Espys on Wednesday evening.

Gilgeous-Aalexander led the Oklahoma City Thunder last month to the NBA championship while he raised hardware as a league MVP and Torchampion.

“It is a dream that will come true and a village will be in dreams,” he said, thanking his wife, his parents, his brother and others. “These names probably don't mean much, but for me they mean everything.”

Biles, an eleven -time Olympic medalist, also claimed the first award of the night, the best championship performance, for their efforts in the Paris play. She won three gold men and a silver while she has helped the US team since 2016.

“It was very unexpected, especially in a category of all men,” said Biles, after kissing her husband Chicago bear safety Jonathan Owens.

She excluded Stephen Curry, Freddie Freeman and Rory McIlroy for the award.

The Philadelphia Eagles, who won the second Super Bowl of the Franchise in February, claimed the best team award and excluded nine other candidates, including The Thunder, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Florida Panthers, the football team of the US state Ohio and the American National Women's Women's Freek Football.

Suni Lee, Olympic teammate from Biles, received the best comeback price for overcoming two rare kidney diseases. She brought one of her doctors to the show.

Arthur Ashe Award for Courage

The Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson accepted the Arthur Ashe Prize for the courage of Point Guard Russell Westbrook.

Robertson was President of the NBA Players Association in 1970 at the time of a pioneering cartel lawsuit. This led to a comprehensive reform of the strict free agency of the league and the draft of rules and finally to higher salaries for all players.

The 86-year-old Robertson, a 12-time all-star, who is known as “The Big O” in his career, was the first black president of a sports union.

“I knew that there was work to do. There was a desperate need for players, more career safety, improved working conditions and other accommodations,” he said. “In life it is important to be stubborn or, as I was called, persistent. Hardy about what you believe in.”

Icon Award

The retired WNBA star Diana Taurasi and the retired etc. Star Alex Morgan shared the Icon Award for her career and the most important effects on sport.

The women touched their trophies in a toast.

“Our mission has always been very similar,” said Morgan. “We fought to leave our game in a better place than we found it as a generation in front of us. We are standing on the shoulders of the giants.”

Taurasi, who retired after a 20-year basketball career in February, mentioned her parents, who had immigrated to the USA from Argentina. She also had words for the next generation.

“Keep it up. Don't wait for someone to revise something to you, revise you, loyally and bring the damn fire every day,” she said. “We prove that you can make it. We did it in our own way. No links, no excuses and no regret.”

Pat Tillman Award for the service

The former athletes David Walters and Erin Regan assumed the Pat Tillman Award for the service, which was awarded to those who have served in such a way that the legacy of the former NFL player and the US Army honors.

The 37-year-old Walters bought a gold medal in swimming at the 2008 Olympic Games and was a seven-time World Cup medalist. He is now a fireman in Los Angeles.

The 45 -year -old Regan was a Wake Forest Soccer player who spent a season in the professionals before joining Los Angeles County's fire brigade.

Both Walters and Regan fought the fatal and destructive forest fires in the Pacific Palisaders and Altadena in January.

Jimmy V Award for endurance

An emotional Katie Schumacher-Cawley accepted the Jimmy V-Prize for endurance with her husband and her children, who joined the standing ovation. In September, breast cancer level 2 was diagnosed in the Penn State volleyball coach from Penn State. She continued to train without missing a practice and was the first woman to lead a team to the NCAA National Championship.

“Cancer changed my life, but it didn't take it. It didn't take my belief, it didn't take my mind and my team didn't take it,” she said.

Gatorade player of the year

The basketball player Cameron Boozer and athlete Jane Hedengren were appointed Gatorade player of the year.

Boozer will play at Duke in autumn, appears in his father Carlos, a former NBA all-star, in the college footsteps.

Hedengren will fight for byu in her hometown Provo, Utah.

Host of Shane Gillis' unpleasant monologue

Comedian Shane Gillis's opening monologue as the moderator of the show who honors the top athletes and sports moments of the past year.

He called various famous faces in the Dolby Theater Crowd, including Taurasi, early on. Gillis said, “Give it up for you” after she has called her “Deanna”. The camera showed an fearless taurasi that shook her head. Gillis quickly caught his mistake and said: “My bad one.”

Gillis switched to WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark, who was not at hand.

“When Caitlin Clark retired from the WNBA, she will work in a waffle house so that she can continue to do what she loves the most: black women fight with fist,” he joked.

While some laughed in the audience, others seemed uncomfortable.

Gillis continued to plow with jokes over President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, whose sex trade through the investigation by the Ministry of Justice and the FBI.

Gillis' performance attracted mixed reviews on social media, with some called him “funny” and other “cringey”.

Gillis' first joke about the 73-year-old coach of North Carolina, Bill Belichick, and his 24-year-old friend Jordon Hudson pulled a lot.

“A bookmaker is what Bill Belichick reads before his girlfriend's going to bed,” he said.

But laughter decreased when Gillis continued.

Before a smiling Gillis concludes, he said: “I see that many of them don't like me and that's okay. It is for me. It went exactly as we all thought. I don't know why that happened.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.