ESPY Awards 2012 Nominees: Breaking Down the Contenders for Best Male Athlete

It's a given—LeBron James is going to win.

He's going to win every category in which he's nominated at the 2012 ESPYs. There's no point in even having a telecast; there's no way he's going to lose a single award.

Nevertheless, there are three other superstars nominated in the Best Male Athlete category alongside the King himself. Even they must know they don't have a chance, but just in case, we'll run down their qualifications. You can see the full list of ESPY nominees here. 

Perhaps once LeBron retires, they might get the attention they too deserve. 

Novak Djokovic

Now isn't the best time for Djokovic to be nominated for best anything, considering he officially lost his ranking as the world No. 1 after a disappointing run at Wimbledon last week. The tennis superstar was cruising along through the quarterfinals at the All England Club, dropping just a single set, until he ran into eventual champion Roger Federer.

Prior to losing in the semis at Wimbledon, and prior to losing in the French Open final a few weeks before that, Djokovic was having quite a year. Dating back to last summer, he won three consecutive majors—Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open—before stumbling over the last month or so.

Having said that, you can't win them all, and it would be foolish to expect him to. If he's not going to win, making it at least as far as the semifinals in nine straight majors—dating back to Wimbledon in 2010—isn't too shabby.

Djokovic may not be the top tennis player in the world anymore, but he's definitely still one of them.

Aaron Rodgers

Last year's winner of the Best NFL Player award is back again, nominated on the heels of a disappointing postseason run in which his Packers lost in their first playoff game at the hands of the eventual Super Bowl winners the New York Giants.

That is, after going undefeated through Week 14 and finishing 15-1 overall.

It wasn't exactly the way Rodgers dreamed of defending his Super Bowl title, but he still had a decent year individually. He led the league in passer rating (122.5), finished fifth in total passing yards (4,643) and threw a total of 45 touchdowns. All of that wasn't enough to earn him a second straight ring, but it was enough for him to be named the 2011 league MVP.

He hid in Brett Favre's shadow for a long time, but it's now official: Aaron Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and he's staying for a while.

Justin Verlander

Again, it's not the best time for Verlander to be up for Best Male Athlete (is this category cursed?).

On Tuesday night, he surrendered five runs in the first inning of the All-Star Game and put the American League into a hole it couldn't climb out of as it dropped an 8-0 contest to the National League.

Still, he threw 27 fastballs in the first inning (and just eight offspeed pitches), and the slowest one hit 96 mph on the radar gun. One hit 101, and five hit 100.

Aside from his All-Star game snafu, the 2011 Cy Young winner is having yet another stellar season, registering a 9-5 record with a 2.58 ERA—currently the second-lowest mark of his career—with 128 strikeouts. His Tigers are currently 3.5 games out of first place in the AL Central, and they're going to need an excellent second half from him in order to surge up the standings.

He's certainly not going to win this award, but there is no team in baseball that wouldn't love to have Verlander on its staff.

LeBron James

Even without a championship, LeBron James is always the perennial favorite to win an award like this. He's LeBron James. He's the best player in basketball every year. Now, he has a league MVP and his first championship ring to add to his cause.

In the 2012 postseason, he led the Heat to a five-game series win over the Thunder in the NBA Finals. Having said that, his best performance came in Game 6 versus the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, when he tallied 45 points and 15 rebounds to single-handedly keep the Heat in contention as they faced elimination.

That was the moment all of the critics who said LeBron couldn't perform in big games were silenced; that was the moment everyone knew that the Heat were destiny's team and this was the year they would win a title.

In the regular season, LeBron averaged 27.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game, and in addition to his MVP award and his championship ring, he'll soon have the Best Male Athlete ESPY to add to his mantel.