The 2025 BET Awards were held on June 9. Kevin Hart hosted the show that celebrates “achievements in entertainment and honors music, sports, television, and movies.”
The BET added the Sportswoman of the Year Award in 2001, with Serena Williams being the inaugural winner. Sky star Chicago Reese won the award in 2023 and 2024 and was nominated again in 2025.
The nominees alongside Reese were boxer Claressa Shields, South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, Aces star A’ja Wilson, sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, gymnast Simone Biles, LSU guard and rapper Flau’jae Johnson, French Open winner Coco Gauff and USC basketball player JuJu Watkins.
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Reese three-peated and won the 2025 BET Sportswoman of the Year Award, but not without criticism. Here is more on why Shields is upset at Reese.Â
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Why is Claressa Shields upset at Angel Reese?
Shields isn’t happy that she didn’t win the award. She posted to X congratulating Reese, but it was a little backhanded.Â
Still don’t know how I didn’t win the Sportswoman of the Year for the @BETAwards but Congrats to Angel Reese and all the other Nominees 🤷🏽‍♀️ I just thought accolades mattered.
— Claressa Gwoat Shields (@Claressashields) June 10, 2025
Shields’ main complaint is wondering what is used to determine who wins the award. She maintains, when clapping back at someone on X, that she realizes that Reese has accolades, but she thought the award should go to who has the most accolades.Â
“Ain’t nobody saying Angel Reese don’t have accolades or she not good…. I’m saying I thought the person with “THE MOST” accolades & accomplishments would win the Award. I’m team Angel Reese!”
She makes a point, especially when you look at the other people in the running for the award. If it is a year-by-year competition, Reese led the WNBA in rebounds in 2024 and was named to the All-Rookie Team. Reese gets a lot of hate from social media, but did average 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game.
Shields is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, 17-time world champion, and the reigning undisputed women’s heavyweight champion with a career 16-0 with three knockouts.Â
MORE:Â Where Angel Reese ranks among top WNBA players
Who is Claressa Shields?
Shields is a professional boxer and a former mixed martial artist. She has been a champion in five different weight classes and is currently the women’s heavyweight champion. Shields won the gold medal for middleweight women’s boxing at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Her trophy case is pretty full, with 15 major boxing titles to her credit.
- WBA (Super) light middleweight champion (154 lbs)
- WBC light middleweight champion (154 lbs)
- IBF light middleweight champion (154 lbs)
- WBO light middleweight champion (154 lbs)
- WBA middleweight champion (160 lbs)
- WBC middleweight champion (160 lbs)
- IBF middleweight champion (160 lbs)
- WBO middleweight champion (160 lbs)
- WBC super middleweight champion (168 lbs)
- IBF super middleweight champion (168 lbs)
- WBO light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)
- WBA heavyweight champion (175+ lbs)
- WBC heavyweight champion (175+ lbs)
- IBF heavyweight champion (175+ lbs)
- WBO heavyweight champion (175+ lbs)
She was nominated for the BET’s Sportswoman of the Year Award in 2020 and 2021, but lost to Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka. Shields was named Sporting News’ Women’s Boxer of the Year in 2022.Â
Angel Reese Accolades
Reese has been a polarizing player since her career at LSU. When Caitlin Clark was taking women’s basketball by storm, Reese made it her mission to prove that she was also blazing trails and lighting up the sport. She was the seventh overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Here is a look at some of her career accolades.
2025
- Unrivaled champion
- Second-Team All-Unrivaled
- Unrivaled Defensive Player of the Year
2024
- WNBA All-Rookie Team
- WNBA All-Star
- WNBA rebounding leader
2023
- NCAA Champion
- Unanimous First-Team All-American
