“Baddest Mother…”: NBA Scoring King LeBron James Swoops Up ESPY Leaving Red Bull Champ Max Verstappen Empty Handed Despite Major F1 Milestone

Reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen was nominated for the ESPY’s after he dominated the 2022 season with Red Bull. The Dutchman scripted a new F1 record for winning the most number of races in a season (15). Despite registering this record, he could not beat NBA star LeBron James to the award. The American basketball star clinched the award after he managed to score the 36 points he needed to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time NBA scoring record (38,388).

The other stars who were nominated for this ESPY’s award were Novak Djokovic and Mikaela Shiffrin. Djokovic created history earlier this year after he won his 23rd Grand Slam title at the French Open. As for Shiffrin, she broke the record for the most number of World Cup victories after her 87th win.

2023 ESPY Awards

Link https://t.co/Of52Cc96Cm

Best Driver Nominees
Brittany Force (#NHRA)
Kyle Larson (#NASCAR)
Josef Newgarden (#IndyCar)
Max Verstappen (#F1)#espys #ESPYS #EspyAwards #EspyAwards2023 pic.twitter.com/yK80SxPg87

— Sports Live Stream (@24_sportslive) July 12, 2023

When it comes to Verstappen, he also missed out on the ESPY’s award last year. The 25-year-old was nominated in two categories. Firstly, he was nominated for the Best Championship Performance for his victory at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. And secondly, he was nominated for the Best Driver award.

LeBron James beats Max Verstappen to ESPY’s award

Max Verstappen registered the record for the most number of wins in a season last year after he won the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix. Even though the Dutchman was unbeatable in his sport, his dominance was still not deemed the best record-breaking performance.

The ESPY’s award went to LeBron James, who did the unthinkable by registering the most number of career NBA points. Since it took almost four decades to break this record, there was perhaps no one as deserving as James.

Savannah: “I think LeBron is the baddest moth..”
Zhuri: “Mom!” #ESPYS pic.twitter.com/l3zpxEFTfg

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) July 13, 2023

Following James’ ESPY’s win, his wife, Savannah James gave her husband a befitting tribute. “I think LeBron James is the baddest mother…“, said Savannah before her daughter hilariously interrupted her. The interaction between Savannah and her daughter resulted in LeBron and the audience bursting into laughter.

Savannah then concluded her tribute by adding, “I think LeBron James is the baddest to ever set foot on a basketball court. Nobody works harder. Nobody cares more and nobody has done more for the game of basketball than LeBron James“. With Verstappen having lost out to James on this award, it will be interesting to see if the Dutchman wins the ESPY for the best driver this year or not.

Verstappen also missed out on the ESPY’s award last year

Max Verstappen was also nominated for two ESPY’s awards last year but unfortunately for him he failed to win both. The Dutchman failed to win the Best Driver’s award as Kyle Larson won it after his fantastic first season with Hendrik Motorsports.

Verstappen also lost out on the Best Championship Performance Award to Cooper Kupp despite him winning the 2021 title on the final day of the season in arguably what was the greatest title fight of all time. Kupp beat the Red Bull driver to the award by winning the triple crown, a feat that only three NFL players have registered in history.

And since Verstappen didn’t win any ESPY’s last year, it remains to be seen if he will once again go empty-handed this year. There is a huge chance that the Dutchman may win the Best Driver’s award this year though after he won a record 15 races that year.