The ESPY Awards have always been about more than just trophies and highlight reels — they celebrate the moments and people who truly change the game. This year, one of the night’s most meaningful honors, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, will go to a legend whose impact reaches far beyond the hardwood.
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, better known as “The Big O,” will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2025 ESPYS for his groundbreaking work fighting for player rights.
The award, named after tennis icon Arthur Ashe, is given to those whose strength and courage transcend sports. And in 2025, it’s a 1960s NBA star who’s being recognized for standing up for what was right and pushing for real change in the league during a pivotal moment in basketball history.
Free agency is easily one of the most exciting parts of the sports world where stars get to choose where they play and shape their legacy on their own terms. Robertson, the man who helped make that possible in the NBA is finally getting his flowers.
Cincinnati basketball ace Oscar Robertson is carried on the shoulders of joyful teammates after landing his team to the championship of the Holiday Festival basketball tourney at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 30, 1959. The "Big O" tallied a whopping 50 points as the unbeaten Bearcats topped Iowa, 96-83.
Waving his arms in jubilation, Cincinnati basketball ace Oscar Robertson is carried on the shoulders of joyful teammates after landing his team to the championship of the Holiday Festival basketball tourney at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 30, 1959. The "Big O" tallied a whopping 50 points as the unbeaten Bearcats topped Iowa, 96-83. Oscar was named the tourney's Most Valuable Player and his three-game total of 122 points broke the mark of 106, set earlier in the day by St. Bonaventure's Tom Stith.
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While he was an MVP, an NBA champion and the first player to average a triple-double for a season, it’s what he did off the court that changed the game forever. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, Robertson, as president of the NBA Players Association, filed an antitrust lawsuit to break the league’s tight grip on player movement.
It didn’t give players total freedom right away, but it set the stage for everything that came after higher salaries and the kind of free agency we see today, where players actually get to choose where they want to play and build their own path.