Top 25 Athletes of 2025
- Zak Drapeau
- 12 minutes ago
- 17 min read
by Zak Drapeau
1/31/2025
Sportz Nation
Here's a look at my list of my Top 24 Athletes of 2024, with guys like Shohei Ohtani, Connor McDavid and a slew of Summer Olympians dominating the list.
Without an Olympic event this year, this list will be compiled of mostly athletes in the big sporting leagues such as NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, various Soccer leagues and others.
In the fourth year of doing this list, I am a bit biased toward the top sports leagues but will always give credit to those that deserve it. Athletes from the WNBA, Golf, Racing, Track and Field and other sports have made this list in the past and this year is NO DIFFERENT.
Some insight into my rationale for this ranking is as follows:
Dominance in their Sport
Team Success/ End-of-Year Ranking
Statistics
Peer Opinions
I wish I could have made this list 50 people long to give more athletes the credit they deserve but alas, I'll have to wait 25 more years to make that list. Still, some of the greatest athletes in the world made their mark this year. With some sports leagues having less stars dominate this year such as the NFL, more athletes have gotten the opportunity to showcase their talents and I truly believe this list encapsulates that.
I have to give credit to Sportz Nation LLC and their platform to allow me my 3rd Annual Top Athletes list. I also want to credit Writers Matt Hylen and Joel Piton for their help with research and rankings.
Check out our Twitters for more Content:
Zak Drapeau (@DrapeauZak)
Matt Hylen (@matthylen_)
Joel Piton (@JP7ton)
_________________________________
Honorable Mentions:
Jaxon Smith-Njigba - Football
Carlos Alcaraz - Tennis
Fernando Mendoza - College Football
Mo Salah - Soccer
_________________________________
#25 Myles Garrett
Football
Cleveland Browns
This #25 ranking for Myles Garrett might not be good enough but the sad fact is that he hasn't yet broken the single-season sack record as of 12/31. With 22 sacks this season, Garrett is still .5 sacks off the record and with one game left it's anyone's guess if he'll get to Burrow this Sunday.
With the DPOY all but locked up, Garrett's ranking would be much higher if he hit the 23 sack mark already or was on a team that wasn't one of the worst in the league. As far as single-season achievements go Garrett firmly belongs on this list but without any team success or any record broken yet, he'll have to deal with the wooden spoon of this list.
_________________________________
#24 Nathan
MacKinnon
Hockey
Colorado Avalanche
The greatest Hockey player today that doesn't call Edmonton home, Nathan MacKinnon has been emerging as one of the best in the league for some time now and had his 2nd-highest point scoring total of a calendar year with 126 points.
Having just as dominant a season as Draisaitl last year and currently tied with McDavid in the Hart Memorial race this season, the only reason MacKinnon falls this low is because of the Avalanche's early exit in the playoffs last year.
Still, MacKinnon may be the best pure goal scorer in the league. He may not be the Captain that McDavid is or the flawless skater and breakaway star as either man in Edmonton but what he is, is perfect for the Avalanche's attack and a CONSTANT threat to score that gives him a billing of one of the most dangerous men in the world with skates on.
_________________________________
#23 Cooper Flagg
Basketball
Duke University/ Dallas Mavericks
Some people aren't going to like this entry on my list, (including several members of my writing staff) but Flagg absolutely deserves to be here. Flagg didn't win the NCAA Championship in his lone year of college ball but he was the absolute best player in the nation.
The 2025 Naismith, USBWA and Freshman of the year would continue his age-18, 2025 by becoming the #1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft to become the new face of the Doncic-less Dallas Mavericks. Although his rookie season started off on a sour note, he has turned it around to average 19-6-4 so far this year.
Flagg's year of being the most scrutinized and famous 18 year old athlete in America went about as good as it can as he was the best college basketball player by a landslide and has become the best rookie of the year in the NBA as well. If his future is as bright as is indicated, this is only the first of MANY entries Cooper will have on this list in the future.
_________________________________
#22 Lamine Yamal
European Soccer
FC Barcelona/ Spain
The youngest player on this list at only 18 years old, Yamal has already ascended to the top of his sport as the "Next Wonderkid" of Soccer. In the same mold as Lionel Messi, Yamal's ability to dribble and score at the top of Barcelona's attack gives him one of the brightest futures in the game, while his ability and results gave him one of the best 2025's as well.
Scoring 24 goals and assisting with 23 more on the year, Yamal was not only Barcelona's top scorer in 2025 but would help lead his team to MAJOR hardware. Along with the rest of the All-Star crew that assemble Barcelona's attack, Barca would win La Liga, the Copa del Ray and the Supercopa while also finishing in the semi finals of the Champions league.
2025 was the year Yamal cemented his status as one of the best in the world. While he may not put up as many goals, his dribbling and ball handling may be the best and his ability to assist is close to the top as well. As much as anyone else in the world, I expect him to remain on this list and be much higher in the years ahead.
_________________________________
#21 Tarik Skubal
Baseball
Detroit Tigers
The reigning back-to-back American League Cy Young, Skubal would have the second most strikeouts this year with 241, averaging almost 8 per start. Skubal would also improve on his Cy Young numbers from 2024 with a 2.21 ERA this year which would lead the American League.
While the Cy Young race was close between Skubal and Boston's Garrett Crochet, Skubal's control is where he really pulled away. With a .891 WHIP on the season, Skubal was the best pitcher in the Major Leagues in limiting walks, with only 33 BBs on the season and only 5 HBPs. Skubal would only give up 18 home runs as well on the season or 1 every 11.4 innings pitched.
For some, a 2.21 ERA isn't all that impressive anymore but when you consider Skubal's control and ability to keep the ball in the park with his strikeout total, you can see how Skubal dominated the plate this year. Now if only the Tigers could get past the ALDS...
_________________________________
#20 Drake Maye
Football
New England Patriots
It cannot be understated how much the rest of the league hates that the Patriots have another All-Pro Quarterback but that is exactly what has happened in Drake Maye's sophomore season. Leading the league in completion percentage, QBR ,passer rating and yards per pass attempt, Drake has been the most efficient Quarterback in the league.
As of right now he is the odds-on favorite to win NFL MVP and has his Patriots at a 13-3 record and the #2 seed in the AFC. The problem I have with putting Maye any higher is because not only do I not agree with him being the MVP this year but his team has had the easiest schedule this season.
Maye has been electric in 2025 no doubt about it and deserves a firm spot on this list. And odds are if you believe he deserves a spot any higher than this... You must be a Patriots' fan.
_________________________________
#19 Jalen Hurts
Football
Philadelphia Eagles
Most people will believe Jalen Hurts got this spot on the list because he led his Eagles to the Super Bowl but you might be surprised to hear that he's actually had a pretty great 2025-26 season. While his passing yards will never be among the best in the league, Hurts total touchdowns and turnovers on the season are 33 and 14 respectively compared to Drake Maye's of 34 and 16.
Has Hurts had a better season than Maye? No he hasn't. But the Super Bowl domination of the Chiefs and subsequent Super Bowl MVP push him just above the new sensation in New England. With the Eagles clinching another playoff spot, there's room for him to ascend even higher on this list still.
_________________________________
#18 Nikola Jokic
Basketball
Denver Nuggets
JOKIC AVERAGED 30-12-10 OVER A CALENDAR YEAR. I could honestly leave this entry at that but I'll keep going...
Jokic and his Nuggets pushed the eventual Champion Thunder to 7 games in the Western Conference Semis after a 50-32 regular season so his team success wasn't bad but it wasn't great. If you want to look at this list as only individual success and not concerning team success, Jokic would realistically be Top-5. Unfortunately for the Joker it's not that easy.
Still, Jokic is back at it for the 2025-26 season and is doing even better and has averaged 30-12-11-1-1 so far. If that stat line isn't enough for you alone then you should reevaluate how you look at ball.
_________________________________
#17 Scottie Scheffler
Golf
PGA Tour
Dropping down from #2 on my list from last year, Scheffler may not have had as dominant a year in 2025 but still was the best in his sport. 6 PGA Tour wins including winning 2 of the 4 majors, the PGA and Open Championships.
While Scheffler would win 40% of the events he attended in 2024, he would win 28% of them in 2025... which let me be clear, is still fantastic. But maybe not quite good enough to live up to his #2 ranking in 2024.
Scheffler is still only 29-years old and is the best golfer in the world to most fans of the sport. By the way, a cool $27.6 million earning in 21 events is NOT BAD.
_________________________________
#16 Paul Skenes
Baseball
Pittsburgh Pirates
I'm ashamed to say that I looked at Paul Skenes as "Livy Dunne's boyfriend" until his incredible rookie season last year launched him to one of the best pitchers in the sport. Now just one year later, the 23-year old is THE best pitcher in Baseball.
In 2025, Skenes would dominate and lead the entire league with a 1.97 ERA while also holding .95 WHIP in 32 starts. Unfortunately for him, Skenes 10-10 Win-Loss record on the season is indicative of his bigger problem which is the team he's on. If Skenes had the same individual season with a team that had made the playoffs he'd have been closer to Top-10 and if they had won a playoff series or 2 he'd be Top-5.
Unfortunately for the "next-Jacob deGrom", he'll have to continue to hope the Pirates can build around him in the next few years where theoretically, Skenes should only continue to get better.
_________________________________
#15 Matthew
Stafford
Football
Los Angeles Rams
Believe it or not Stafford is the 4th and highest entry on this list from the NFL, marking the lowest amount of NFL players on it since the inception in 2022.
Stafford has been the best Quarterback in the league this season and should earn the MVP even if pundits and NFL honors prefer Drake Maye's completion percentage more. Stafford not only leads the league in passing touchdowns and is spitting distant behind leading in passing yards as well, but has the 2nd best passer rating and 4th QBR.
His Rams have had a shaky last month of the season and will come into the playoffs as a Wild Card in some part due to Stafford's 2 bad performances on the season resulting in 5 of his 8 interceptions on the year. That being said, he also had a stretch of 8 games where he threw 25 TDs and 0 interceptions and for those two months alone, has had the best NFL season of anyone this year as well as the 15th best season of any athlete in 2025.
_________________________________
#14 Terence
Crawford
Boxing
Middleweight/ Welterweight
"Bud" Crawford was BY FAR the least active athlete on this list in 2025 so he must have done something special right? How about winning the most-watched combat sports event of the last 5 years when he DOMINATED Canelo Alvarez in a fight he wasn't even supposed to have a chance in.
Some people don't remember that Canelo was almost a 3-1 favorite before that fight as Crawford was coming up to a weight class 20 pounds heavier then where he is used to. Crawford would win the bout by a score of 116-112 and earn his 5th weight class-title. With rumors of the undefeated legend possibly retiring, let's see if the money will bring him back in 2026 after making a reported $50 million for his 36 minutes of competition in the year.
_________________________________
#13 Leon Draisaitl
Hockey
Edmonton Oilers
Making this list for the very first time, Leon Draisaitl has long been thought of as the Robin to McDavid's Batman but has finally solidified his spot as one of the sport's absolute best. While he will never be able to escape "The Next One's" shadow, Draisaitl was only narrowly outscored by McDavid in the 2025 calendar year by 142 to 147.
Draisaitl would also help his Oilers get to their 2nd consecutive Stanley Cup Finals and would be tied for the lead for all skaters in points last playoffs.
Draisaitl may go down as one of the most underappreciated skaters of all time as long as he's on McDavid's team and especially if the pair continues to fall short of a Stanley Cup Final win. While that is unfortunate, there is nothing unfortunate about how good Leon is and how epic his 2025 campaign was.
_________________________________
#12 Yoshinobu
Yamamoto
Baseball
Los Angeles Dodgers
Another entry I got a lot of heat for, the reigning World Series MVP deserves a spot on this list but should he be all the way up at #12????
In short, yes he does. In 30 regular season games, Yoshi had a 2.49 ERA with a .99 WHIP and over 200 strikeouts. But his real impact on the season was in the playoffs and more the World Series.
With the season on the line and with other stars such as Shohei Ohtani dropping the ball so-to-speak on the mound, the Dodgers turned to Yoshi when they needed outs the most. In the pinnacle series of the sport, Yamamoto amassed a 3-0 record, with 19.2 innings pitched with a .937 ERA and striking out 15. Yamamoto would even get the series win after coming in for relief in Game 7 on 0 days rest.
THAT... is stuff of legends and I mean LEGENDS. Easy inclusion on my list and one I am not sorry I put so close to the Top-10.
_________________________________
#11 Connor McDavid
Hockey
Edmonton Oilers
I originally planned for McDavid to be just behind Draisaitl on this list but when checking in on how he's started his 2025-26 season, sheeeeesh.
147 points in 103 games in the 2025 Calendar year would normally be shocking but for Connor McDavid it's merely business as usual. Add a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals and McDavid was a Hart Memorial trophy away from hitting his "End-of-Year Quotas".
Yes McDavid has been the best player in the NHL for some time now even if Nate MacKinnon and his teammate Draisaitl have challenged him for that title as of late, but believe it or not this last calendar year has been one of McDavid's statistical worst over the last 6 years. With the 2025-26 season starting off RED HOT as he leads the league in points and assists and looking to be on another collision course with the Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals, one can guess that McDavid will be back in the Top-10 pretty soon.
_________________________________
Top-10
#10 Naoya Inoue
Boxing
Super Bantamweight
Starting in my Top-10 of the year, Naoya Inoue may be one of the Top-2 least-heard of athletes on this list and it is a crying shame. Inoue is the Unified Super Bantamweight (122 lbs) Champion and has a perfect 32-0 record.
Inoue defended his belt 4 times in 2025 including 2 knockout wins in the first half of the year. By far the most active champion in the Boxing world during the year, Inoue not only won all 4 of his title fights but did so against 3 of the Top-4 contenders in his division.
While names like Usyk, Crawford and even Paul have dominated the "Money Fights" in 2025, the boxer with the best year in total in terms of fights, who he beat and how he beat them, the BEST boxer of 2025 has to go to the Japanese "{Monster", Naoya Inoue.
_________________________________
#9 Aaron Judge
Baseball
New York Yankees
ALL RISE! The Bronx' Captain may have fallen off from his #5 spot last year but he is 1 of only 2 players on this list to remain in the Top-10.
And with good reason, the back-to-back AL MVP was the best hitter in the Majors this season by a long shot, totalling a 9.7 bWAR with the closest to him being Cal Raleigh with a 7.3. Judge would finish inside the Top-5 for all 3 categories of the Triple Crown award for the second time in a row and actually lead the league in Batting Average for the first time in his career.
Unfortunately for Judge, he would again fall short in the Playoffs this season when the Yankees would fall in the ALDS to the eventual AL-representative in the World Series, Blue Jays. In the postseason, Judge would do EVERYTHING he could to get back to the World Series, batting .500 with an OPS of 1.259.
Judge is clearly one of if not the best hitter in baseball. His lack of team success is a knock on him at this point in his career but if he ever gets over that hump and brings a Championship back to the Bronx, he will be right back to being close to the top of this list.
_________________________________
#8 Kylian Mbappe
European Soccer
Real Madrid CF / France
For my money, even though Mbappe isn't the highest soccer player on this list he is the very best in the world. Without the lack of team success from either Real Madrid or Spain, and because of his former team's success in 2025, Mbappe falls a bit lower on this list than his skill would indicate.
Otherwise, what a year Mbappe has had in terms of being the single-best scorer in the world. So far in the 2025-26 season in La Liga, Mbappe leads all scorers with 18 goals in 18 games just as he led the league in 2024-25 as well. In total scoring, Mbappe would get 66 goals and 10 assists in 67 games played.
Without winning La Liga, the UCL or the Copa Del Ray, Mbappe can't be too high on this list but his scoring numbers are frankly ridiculous. The key to Madrid's attack, he would score 53 goals in 49 appearances in La Liga and the UCL while also socring 7 and assisting 5 in his 8 caps for the French National team this year. Best scorer in the world...
_________________________________
#7 Armand
Duplantis
Pole Vault
Sweden
Let me introduce to you the greatest Pole Vaulter of All time, Swedish-born Armand "Mo" Duplantis. If you're not familiar with his legacy and 2025 in particular I can't blame you so let me rattle off some of his accomplishments:
Finished first in all 16 events he competed in, broke his own Pole Vaulting World Record 4 times, won a World Championship Gold in Tokyo and earned his 3rd World Athletics Track and Field Man of the Year Award.
Duplantis dominated his sport as much or more than any other single person this year and earns a significantly high spot on this list... So why only #7?
Rightly or wrongly I've docked him "points" for competing in such a niche sport. When Duplantis competes for Olympic gold he was awarded as such but while his accomplishments are legendary, his lack of notoriety hurts his stock.
_________________________________
#6 Lando Norris
Formula One
McLaren
Norris is 1 of 2 Fomrula One drivers on this list and for both entries, I have to give a lot of credit to Sportz Nation Writer Matt Hylen (@matthylen_) for his help with these entries.
Lando Norris is the 26-year old McLaren driver that not only helped McLaren win the Contructor's Cup BY A LOT but won his first Driver's Championship as well. Being behind the wheel of the best car and engine definitely helped the Brit and is why he isn't the top F1 athlete on this list but should not take away from the absolutely phenomenal season he had.
Winning 7 of the 24 Formula One races this year and finishing Top-3 in 17, Norris was clearly at the top of the game this year and would have been the best if not for one other guy we'll get to shortly.
_________________________________
#5 A'ja Wilson
Basketball
Las Vegas Aces
The only woman on the list this year, A'ja Wilson would improve on her incredible 2024 season with an even better 2025. Winning her 3rd title in 4 years, Wilson would lead her Las Vegas Aces in Points, Rebounds, Steals and Blocks in the regular season and the Playoffs this season.
Averaging 23 and 10 and then 27 and 10 in the playoffs, Wilson would dominate the league as well as the WNBA Voting, securing 51 of a possible 72 votes for MVP. Her MVP this season would also mark a record-4th time achieving the award.
If this list gets boiled down to which athletes dominated their sport the most including statistics, winning and championships, very few athletes can match Wilsons' success no matter if they're a man or woman.
_________________________________
#4 Max Verstappen
Formula One
Red Bull
The best Formula One driver in the world for almost 5 years in a row, Max Verstappen BARELY missed out on his 5th straight Driver's Championship by 2 points, losing to Lando Norris by 423 points to 421.
Helping his Red Bull team come in third even though his teammate Yuki Tsunoda came in 17th out of a possible 21 drivers, Max did the proverbial "More with Less" this season. Max would go on to win the most races, (8) while finishing Top-3 in 17 of his 24 races.
Max only lost the Driver's Championship due to a few incidents that happened during the season that caused him not to place. If not for the Austrian GP crash and penalties incurred in Spain, Max would have won his 5th straight but even though he didn't, he was as dominant a driver as we've seen since he topped this list in 2023.
_________________________________
#3 Ousmane
Dembele
European Soccer
Paris Saint-Germain F.C./ France
The Ballon d'Or Winner and France-Treble winner with Paris Saint-Germain, Ousmane Dembele was the best player on by far the best team in European Soccer in 2025.
In his 4 caps for the French national team, Dembele would only have one point and lose a key game to Spain. His performances for France weren't spectacular which is what holds him from topping this list because his PSG performances...
Dembele would start 30 games in 46 appearances for PSG in 2025 and score 31 goals and 13 assists. In games he played the team would go 37-2-7, not to mention win the French treble and secure 5 pieces of hardware. Dembele would also earn the 2024-25 Golden Boot in Ligue 1 as well notch 2 hat tricks in his legendary campaign.
_________________________________
#2 Shai Gilgeous-
Alexander
Basketball
Oklahoma City Thunder
NBA Champion, NBA MVP and Scoring Champion in the 2024-25 season and again the frontrunner in both the NBA standings and MVP race for the 2025-26 season, SGA has been the man in the NBA for the calendar year which has stretched for basically 2 seasons.
Scoring over 32 points per game since January, Gilgeous-Alexander has scored the most points in the NBA while his Thunder has won the most amount of games including the 2025 NBA Championship. Shai was always going to be toward the top of this list but the fact that he is now on pace to do it again in the current season and has flowed seamlessly from one-MVP season to potentially another is why he has landed al the way at #2.
_________________________________
#1 Shohei Ohtani
Baseball
Los Angeles Dodgers
For the second year of me doing this list, Shohei Ohtani has again landed #1 on my list to go along with his 2 NL MVPs and World Series trophies.
Ohtani would earn an All-Star bid, the World Series Trophy and NL MVP again in 2025 along with 55 Home Runs, 122 RBIs, a .282 Batting Average and a 1.014 OPS. On the mound he would toss a 2.87 ERA in 47 innings pitched as well as he returned from a Torn UCL back in 2024.
You can make the argument that part of his success comes with the Dodgers' inflated payroll almost buying their championships but no one can argue Ohtani's success at hitting and pitching along with being a winner. Pretty soon, we're going to have to start putting Ohtani's name amongst the greatest to ever do it but for now, I think we should all agree he was the greatest to do it in the year 2025.
Check out fansonlysportz.com/news and (@DrapeauZak) on Twitter for more sports media content posted daily.
Make sure to stay tuned as we continue sports coverage throughout 2026.
Happy New Year! - Z.D.
Comments