Sports

Trae Young, Josef Martinez can win an ESPY Wednesday; here are all the nominees

OAKLAND, CA - NOVEMBER 13: Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks drives on Quinn Cook #4 of the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena on November 13, 2018 in Oakland, California. 

ATLANTA — Atlanta sports fans have, frankly, been a bit spoiled recently.

After years of underperforming teams and lineups that failed to impress, we are now in something of a golden age with multiple teams in contention and lineups that feature young, electrifying, and talented stars.

This week alone, the Braves sent the youngest pair of teammates to the All-Star Game in MLB history, with 21-year-olds Ronald Acuña and Mike Soroka – and nobody would have complained if 22-year-olds Ozzie Albies or Austin Riley joined them.

And as fellow Millennials Calvin Ridley, Deion Jones, and Keanu Neal prepare for Falcons' training camp, two more ascendant Atlanta athletes are earning major national recognition.

The Hawks' Trae Young and Atlanta United's Josef Martinez have both earned nominations for this year's ESPYS, which will air Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Channel 2. 

Martinez, who won Major League Soccer's MVP while scoring an MLS record 31 goals for the MLS champion Atlanta United, is up for Best MLS Player. And, if we're being honest, has made a pretty strong case to win the thing.

Young is coming off a dazzling rookie season for the Hawks when he silenced critics of Atlanta's trade to acquire him for the draft rights to Luka Doncic by putting up 19.1 points-per-game to go with 8.1 assists-per-game. He's hoping to top it off with an ESPY win for Best Breakthrough Athlete. Not nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete? Luka Doncic.

Here is a complete list of the sports year's best athletes, teams, and moments which are also nominated for a 2019 ESPY.

BEST MALE ATHLETE

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

Brooks Koepka, Golf

BEST FEMALE ATHLETE

Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm

Simone Biles, Gymnast

Alex Morgan, USWNT

Mikaela Shiffrin, US Skiing

BEST BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE

Saquon Barkley, New York Giants

Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers

Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks

Naomi Osaka – US Open, Australian Open

BEST GAME

NCAAF – LSU vs. Texas A&M: Aggies win seven-overtime 74-72 thriller in highest scoring game in FBS history

NFL Week 11 – LA Rams (54) vs. Kansas City Chiefs (51) – Monday Night Football

NCAAW Final Four – Notre Dame (81) vs. UConn (76) – 26 lead changes

BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE

Kyler Murray, Oklahoma Football – 2018 Heisman Trophy Winner

Zion Williamson, Duke MBB – 2019 Wooden Award Winner

Rachel Garcia, UCLA Softball – USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year

Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon WBB – 2019 Wooden Award Winner

BEST RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE

Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints) passed Peyton Manning’s 71,940 career passing yards to move into first place on the all-time list; most completions in NFL history, 6,300+ completions passes Brett Favre

Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon Basketball) recorded her 13th triple-double. She now holds the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball record for triple doubles. She surpassed Kyle Collinsworth’s mark of 12 in four seasons at BYU. She also broke the Division I men’s and women’s record in a single season in the Ducks’ 96–78 win over Southern California (7) breaking former BYU guard Kyle Collinsworth

Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors) broke the NBA 3-point record in a game with 14, passing Stephen Curry’s previous mark

Matthew Boling became the first-ever high schooler to break 10 seconds in the 100-meter dash, dropping a 9.98

BEST PLAY (bracket-style voting)

  • Miami Miracle: Miami Dolphins Stun the New England Patriots
  • Kawhi Leonard Drains Game-Winner at Buzzer in Game 7
  • Derrick Henry's NFL-record 99-yard run vs. Jaguars
  • Wayne Rooney Just Single-Handedly Won A Match For D.C. United
  • UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi scores a perfect 10
  • Andrew Benintendi calls game
  • Damian Lillard Sends OKC Home On Buzzer Beater
  • Manchester QB Brendon Clar throws this ball to Kevin Henderson for the 48 yard TD catch
  • Texas Tech WR makes one-handed grab that mirrors OBJs best catch
  • Kinsley Washington singled home Jacqui Prober to win the Bruins' 12th softball title
  • Julie Ertz gives the USWNT the lead early in the second half
  • Texas A&M's Infinite Tucker goes ALL OUT for the gold
  • Arike Ogunbowale Behind the Back Pass
  • Kihei Clark, Mamadi Diakite Save Virginia at the buzzer
  • Wilmington Charter's Taylor Gillis with CATCH OF THE YEAR!
  • 'Hail Mary' pass helps Texas high school football team win state title

BEST VIRAL SPORTS MOMENT

Rudolph “Blaze” Ingram, the 7-year-old  running phenom is already faster than you

Texas A&M’s Infinite Tucker goes ALL OUT for the gold

Katelyn Ohashi, UCLA Gymnastics – scores a perfect 10

Don’t Sleep on Sister Mary Jo’s curveball

BEST UPSET

NCAAF – Old Dominion defeats No. 13 Virginia Tech 49-35, Old Dominion only had a 1.8% chance of winning according to ESPN’s FPI, making it the largest upset by an FBS team in the 14 years of Football Power Index projections

2018 US Open – Naomi Osaka defeating Serena Williams

NHL – Columbus Blue Jackets pulled off what many thought impossible, an upset for the ages after a 7-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on in Game 4 of their best-of-7 series.

Boxing – Andy Ruiz Jr. upset win over Anthony Joshua

BEST INTERNATIONAL MEN’S SOCCER PLAYER

Lionel Messi

Cristiano Ronaldo

Kylian Mbappe

Virgil Van Dyke

BEST INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S SOCCER PLAYER

Pernille Harder, Denmark

Ada Hegerberg, Norway

Sam Kerr, Australia

Lucy Bronze, England

BEST NFL PLAYER

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

Aaron Donald, Los Angeles Rams

Todd Gurley, Los Angeles Rams

Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints

BEST MLB PLAYER

Mookie Betts, Red Sox

Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers

Jacob DeGrom, New York Mets

Blake Snell, Tampa Bays Rays

BEST NHL PLAYER

Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning

Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche

Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

BEST DRIVER

Lewis Hamilton, F1

Steve Torrence, NHRA

Scott Dixon, Indy

Kyle Busch, NASCAR

BEST NBA PLAYER

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

James Harden, Houston Rockets

Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors

Paul George, OKC Thunder

BEST WNBA PLAYER

Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm

Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury

Elena Delle Donne, Washington Mystics

Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks

BEST BOXER

Canelo Alvarez

Vasily Lomachenko

Oleksandr Usyk

Terence Crawford

BEST MMA FIGHTER

Israel Adesanya

Daniel Cormier

Henry Cejudo

Amanda Nunes

BEST MALE GOLFER

Brooks Koepka

Tiger Woods

Justin Rose

Francesco Molinari

BEST FEMALE GOLFER

Ariya Jutanugarn

Brooke Henderson

Jin-Young Ko

Sung Hyun Park

BEST MALE TENNIS PLAYER

Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal

Roger Federer

Stefanos Tsitsipas

BEST FEMALE TENNIS PLAYER

Naomi Osaka

Simona Halep

Serena Williams

Petra Kvitová

BEST MALE ACTION SPORTS ATHLETE

Nyjah Huston (USA), skateboard

Scotty James (AUS), snowboard

Tom Pages (FRA), freestyle motocross

Gabriel Medina (BRA), surf

BEST FEMALE ACTION SPORTS ATHLETE

Kelly Sildaru (EST), ski

Chloe Kim (USA), snowboard

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL), snowboard

Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), surf

BEST JOCKEY

Irad Ortiz Jr.

Mike Smith

Florent Geroux

Jose Ortiz

BEST MALE ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY

Mark Barr – Triathlon

Declan Farmer  – Hockey

Daniel Romanchuk – Marathon Racing

Oz Sanchez – Cycling

BEST FEMALE ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY

Oksana Masters, Nordic Skiing

Tatyana McFadden, Marathon Racing

Shawn Morelli, Cycling

Allysa Seely, Triathlon

BEST BOWLER

Jason Belmonte

Norm Duke

Anthony Simonsen

Jakob Butturff

BEST MLS PLAYER

Josef Martinez, Atlanta United

Wayne Rooney, DC United

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, LA Galaxy

Aaron Long, NY Red Bulls

BEST NWSL PLAYER

Lindsey Horan, Portland Thorns

Adrianna Franch, Portland Thorns

Sam Kerr, Chicago Red Stars

Abby Erceg, North Carolina Courage

BEST ESPORTS MOMENT (bracket-style voting)

SonicFox winning Evo after switching sides
Team Liquid upsets defending world champ Invictus Gaming at MSI
Cloud9 wins CS:GO Boston Major
Astralis winning Katowice
Invictus League of Legends World Championship
Spitfire win inaugural Overwatch League championship
Serral winning StarCraft at BlizzCon
Shanghai Dragons end 42-game losing streak
Team OG wins the International and $11 million from qualifiers
Chiquita Evans becoming the first woman in the 2K League
oLarry's return to the NBA 2K League after the Jacksonville shooting
Leffen finally winning EVO in what could be Melee's last year at the event
Ninja Fortnite win with Marshmello at E3 ProAM
Chritobin Madden Challenge walk off
G2 wins R6 world championship
Mongausse winning Summer Skirmish from out of nowhere

BEST WWE MOMENT

Roman Reigns returns to WWE Raw, announces his Leukemia is in remission

Becky Lynch wins both WWE Women’s Championship Titles at Wrestlemania 35

Kofi Kingston wins his first WWE Heavyweight Championship Title at Wrestlemania 35

Ronda Rousey defeats Alexa Bliss at Summerslam 2018 to win her first RAW Women’s Championship Title