ESPYs 2016: Nominees for Top Awards and Predicting the Winners

The 2016 ESPYs, which will be hosted by John Cena, will air tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET. Voting, which began on June 22, wraps just before the award ceremony begins.

The fields for the top awards are crowded this year, especially for Best Male Athlete, where fans will have to choose between Stephen Curry and LeBron James.

While Curry had one of the most incredible regular seasons of all time, James finally helped bring an NBA championship home to Cleveland. 

Read on for the other nominees in the top categories and predictions for who will take home the honors. 

       

Best Male Athlete

Stephen Curry

Cam Newton

Bryce Harper

LeBron James

Fans love winners, and it's hard to think that the voting for Best Male Athlete won't reflect that fact and result in a win for James.

According to ESPN.com, "James was named the unanimous Finals MVP as the first player ever to lead a full playoff series in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks." Couple that with the fact that he helped give the Cavaliers their first franchise Finals win, and James seems like the front-runner in this category. 

Of course, he could be challenged by fans who are still in awe of Curry's role in leading his team to 73 regular-season wins, a league record. But are fans still licking their wounds from the Warriors' Finals loss? If so, they might not be outvoting James in Curry's favor. 

Prediction: LeBron James 

      

Best Female Athlete

Breanna Stewart

Elena Delle Donne

Katie Ledecky

Simone Biles

Unanimous player of the year Breanna Stewart has been collecting awards all year, from the Wooden Award and Sullivan Award to AP Player of the Year.

So it would be no surprise to see her take home the honor of being voted the Best Female Athlete tonight. 

However, fans have Olympics on the mind, and Simone Biles is everywhere right now as we approach the games in Rio. That could sway fans' minds, too. 

Ultimately, however, expect the decision to come down in favor of the WNBA draft's first overall pick.

Prediction: Breanna Stewart

      

Best Championship Performance

Von Miller, Super Bowl

Carli Lloyd, World Cup Final

Sidney Crosby, Stanley Cup Playoffs

LeBron James, NBA Finals

Prediction: LeBron James

      

Best Breakthrough Athlete

Jake Arrieta

Conor McGregor

Chloe Kim

Karl-Anthony Towns

The Chicago Cubs sit atop the NL Central and have the fourth-most wins in major league baseball, which is still a strange thing to say out loud. 

And much of it is because of young gun Jake Arrieta, who burst onto the scene in 2015 after a couple years in the Cubs organization and is continuing his success in 2016. 

According to ESPN.com, "Arrieta has now thrown no-hitters in the 2015 and 2016 seasons and currently leads the majors in wins and is second in ERA (1.74)."

Unanimous NBA Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns led all rookies in scoring with 18.3 points per game, but Arrieta seems like a lock for this category. 

Prediction: Jake Arrieta

     

Best Record-Breaking Performance

Stephen Curry: single season three-pointers made (402)

Geno Auriemma: most NCAA basketball titles in D1 history (11)

Christian McCaffrey: single-season NCAAF all-purpose yards (3,684)

Prediction: Stephen Curry

      

Best Game

Villanova vs. North Carolina, Men's NCAA Basketball Final

Arizona Cardinals vs. Green Bay Packers, NFL Divisional Round

Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA Finals Game 7

If there are only going to be three games included in this category, it's hard to see how an NFL Divisional Round game can beat out Game 7 of the NBA Finals, despite Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers' miracle Hail Mary to force overtime against the Arizona Cardinals.

No, it has to be the Cleveland Cavaliers' triumphant win over the Golden State Warriors for the franchise's first NBA title. 

Prediction: Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers