The 49th annual People’s Choice Awards will celebrate and announce winners on Feb. 18. Under the “Pop Culture” category, the worldwide public voted for their favorite athlete of the year.
BetCalifornia.com, which covers California sports betting topics, used the People’s Choice Awards nominee section under “The Athlete” award to figure out which U.S. states had the most nominees out of eight selected. Here are the results:
People’s Choice Awards Nominees for “The Athlete”
Out of the eight total nominees, four were from Ohio (LeBron James, Simone Biles, Stephen Curry, and Travis Kelce); one was from Florida (Coco Gauff) and one from California (Sabrina Ionescu).
Iconic Ionescu Starring In WNBA
Before Iowa guard Caitlyn Cark exploded onto the American sports landscape, there was Sabrina Ionescu. Though she plays on the other side of the country now, she’d be a popular California sports betting apps draw.
The Walnut Creek native starred in college at Oregon and won every award imaginable, highlighted by the Naismith Player of the Year honor in 2020. In four years at Eugene, she played 142 games and scored 2,562 points (18 per game). She also is the NCAA’s all-time leader in career triple doubles.
For the past four seasons (2020-23), she has displayed her talents for the New York Liberty after being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft. Over the past two years, she has played in every game (36 games per season), averaging 17 points or more. Ionescu is a two-time WNBA All-Star and also has been an All-WNBA Second Team selection twice.
She is also the defending WNBA 3-Point Shootout champion after scoring 37 points (most ever in both WNBA/NBA history), breaking the mark of 31 set by Golden State Warriors guard (and fellow People’s Choice nominee) Stephen Curry. In winning the event last season, she made 25 of her last 27 attempts to take home the title.
Though no betting with California sportsbook promo codes is allowed in the state, ESPN BET has the New York Liberty as the second favorite to win this year’s WNBA Championship at +240. They’re behind only the two-time defending champions, the Las Vegas Aces (even money).
