The most influential athletes wouldn't be that without first creating moments worth remembering. All of the athletes on Sports Illustrated's 2025 Power List accomplished something notable in their field. There were highlights and broken records and championships won.
Some of these athletes made history and some are just getting started. Wherever they are in their careers, fans won't forget what they saw these athletes do as they staked their claim in modern culture.
Here are some of the most memorable moments from the athletes on the 2025 SI Power List.
10 Memorable Moments from SI Power List Athletes
Shohei Ohtani
When you're the first pitcher to hit regularly since Babe Ruth, it's hard to pinpoint an exact moment that stands out, so it's fitting that many of Ohtani's most memorable moments are collections of obscure statistics.
In August, less than two months after Ohtani made his debut on the mound for the Dodgers, he did something that no other MLB player has ever done. He hit a home run, struck out eight-plus hitters, drove in more runs than he allowed and drew more walks than he allowed. In a fitting nod to the Tungsten Arm O'Doyle meme, the Dodgers lost.
Jayden Daniels
Daniels took the Commanders to the NFC Championship and drew comparisons to Tiger Woods by Tom Brady, but one of his signature plays came during Week 8 against the Bears.
With two seconds left on the clock and the ball on the wrong side of the field, all Washington could do was throw it into the end zone. After avoiding the pass rush for a few seconds, Daniels uncorked a throw from his own 35 that traveled 65 yards into a crowd and bounced into the hands of Noah Brown in the end zone. SI called it the most significant play of 2024, and based on how far the team went in Daniels's first season, it's hard to argue.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Once just a piece of the trade that sent Paul George to the Clippers, Gilgeous-Alexander developed into a perennial MVP candidate for the Thunder. Last season he won that MVP. And then he won Finals MVP and brought a championship to OKC. It was during the parade that SGA created some incredible moments. He brought the Larry O'Brien trophy to the fans to share it with them while his father explained what kind of person his son was.
Jeremiah Smith
Jeremiah Smith led the Buckeyes with 15 touchdown catches as a freshman, but the biggest catch of his career did not result in a score. It just resulted in a national championship. After Emeka Egbuka noticed something in Notre Dame's coverage earlier in the game, quarterback Will Howard threw deep to Smith on third-and-11with the game on the line. Smith ran a nice route and caught the deep ball that clinched Ohio State's title.
Kayla Harrison
Harrison won the women's bantamweight championship at UFC 316, submitting Julianna Pẽna by kimura in the second round. The two-time judo gold medalist is now 19-1 in her MMA career and 3-0 in the UFC as she waits for the organization to make a fight with Amanda Nunes.
Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler started the year with a win at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and then won the PGA Championship by five strokes two weeks later. Then came a four-stroke win at the Memorial, a four-stroke win at The Open Championship and finally, a two-shot win at the BMW Championship. In the process, Scheffler won more than $26.5 million this year. With all that in mind, his extended cameo in Happy Gilmore 2 was one of the highlights of the movie and showed that he has a great sense of humor about the most infamous moment of his career.
Eagles Offense
The Tush Push was the talk of the NFL last year, but the most spectacular running play the Eagles made last season involved Saquon Barkley hurdling a defender backwards on his way to a rushing title. And while the Eagles ran their signature short-yardage play to great effect in the big game, it was a long pass from Jalen Hurts that will live on in the minds of Eagles fans forever. Up 27-0 in the third quarter, a comeback seemed unlikely, but you just never know, so Hurts went deep and hit DeVonta Smith to put the game away.
Paige Bueckers
Before she was the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, Pagie Bueckers put the ultimate bow on her college career with a national championship at UConn. Bueckers was a force of nature and it was clear why she crushed it in the NIL era. Then in the Sweet 16, Bueckers went off scoring a career-high 40 points on 16-of-27 shooting that included making 6-of-8 three-pointers. A couple of months later she was a deserving WNBA All-Star.
Lamine Yamal
In the UEFA Champions League semifinal against Inter Milan, Yamal scored what many consider the goal of the year. Trailing 2-0 in the first half hal, the 17-year old phenom took matters into his own... feet. Yamal dribbled around and through defenders and curled in a truly stunning goal that got Barcelona back into the match.
17-YEAR-OLD LAMINE YAMAL JUST COOKED ON HIS 100TH BARCA APPEARANCE 🤯 pic.twitter.com/dhWmTDr10O
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 30, 2025
Cooper Flagg
How does one of the most high-profile recruits in basketball history live up to the hype? By doing everything Cooper Flagg did as a freshman at Duke. In his third game he had 26 points and 11 rebounds against Kentucky and in January he scored 42 against Notre Dame, but it was against Pitt where he did something truly spectacular in front of the Cameron Crazies. Flagg stole an entry pass on the block, took off down the sideline dribbling with his left hand, picked up his dribble a step inside the three-point line and took off for a ferocious dunk on a seven-footer.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as 10 Best Moments From Athletes on SI's 2025 Power List.
