BET Award for Sportsman of the Year

The BET Award for Sportsman of the Year is given to the best and most successful male athlete of the previous year. The award was originally titled Best Male Athlete, but was later changed to its current title in 2010. LeBron James holds the record for most wins in this category with nine.

Winners and nominees
Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

Controversy
Some of the nominations have brought up some controversy. Reggie Bush was nominated for the award twice, in 2007 and 2009, despite putting up average numbers for a player at his position in both those seasons. In both years, he was nominated among athletes who were considered the best of the best in their sports, which upset some sports fans, as Bush has not accomplished enough to be in the same list as them.

Wins

 * 9 wins
 * LeBron James


 * 5 wins
 * Stephen Curry


 * 3 wins
 * Kobe Bryant


 * 2 wins
 * Kevin Durant

Nominations

 * 21 nominations
 * LeBron James


 * 10 nominations
 * Kobe Bryant
 * Stephen Curry
 * Tiger Woods


 * 5 nominations
 * Carmelo Anthony
 * Odell Beckham Jr.


 * 4 nominations
 * Allen Iverson
 * Patrick Mahomes II
 * Floyd Mayweather Jr.
 * Shaquille O'Neal


 * 3 nominations
 * Kevin Durant


 * 2 nominations
 * Giannis Antetokounmpo
 * Barry Bonds
 * Reggie Bush
 * Victor Cruz
 * Gervonta Davis
 * Jalen Hurts
 * Kyrie Irving
 * Cam Newton
 * Chris Paul
 * Dwyane Wade
 * Bubba Wallace