Dodgers dynasty, LeBron’s legacy & a year LA will never forget – NBC Los Angeles

If you’re from Los Angeles, that this metropolis doesn’t expertise sports activities passively. In the City of Champions, we stay them–loudly, painfully, joyfully–like a heartbeat you possibly can really feel within the concrete. 

In 2025, that pulse did not decelerate. The year unfolded like most do, a lengthy, sluggish season of emotion, marked by triumphs and turbulences. Dynasties were crowned, legacies were cemented, and reinvention was revisited. And by way of all of it have been the moments that felt too massive to be scripted and too eventful to be forgotten. 

This year banners have been lifted into the sky and historical past bent in surprising methods. We watched legends say goodbye and new icons arrive. We witnessed championships gained not simply with pure expertise or payroll, however with resilience and coronary heart. Sometimes removed from residence, generally in opposition to the burden of expectation that solely this metropolis we name residence carries. 

From extra October drama to life-changing shockwaves. From the Fall Classic to courtside confrontations that spill into the cultural maelstrom, 2025 reminded us why Hollywood stays sports activities’ most compelling stage. Sure, not each second led to celebration, however every of them left a mark on us. A reminiscence etched into our minds that we’ll replay repeatedly in sluggish movement. Some, we’ll argue over, others we’ll cherish perpetually. 

As the calendar turns, we glance again on the moments that outlined our year. Fifteen completely different snapshots that, collectively, inform the story of a metropolis that never stops chasing greatness, and is never boring for drama. 

Here are the highest 15 moments in Los Angeles sports activities in 2025:

15. Dodgers Win the Roki Sasaki Sweepstakes

When Roki Sasaki chose the Los Angeles Dodgers again in January, it felt like one other quiet flex from baseball’s strongest franchise. The Japanese phenom’s rookie season got here with rising pains, however October instructed a completely different story. Sasaki discovered himself closing postseason video games beneath blinding stress, serving to ship a second straight World Series title and turning early skepticism into perception.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

14. Chargers Reach the Playoffs in Jim Harbaugh’s First Season

The Jim Harbaugh era arrived with a jolt. After years of drifting, the Los Angeles Chargers rediscovered construction, toughness, and perception, ending 11–6 and returning to the playoffs. Even with a Wild Card loss in Houston, the muse was set—and by late 2025, the Chargers were already back in the postseason, chasing one thing larger.

13. LeBron James’ Historic Scoring Streak Ends — The Right Way

Nearly 19 years. That’s how lengthy LeBron James lived in double figures earlier than the streak ended on a December night in Toronto. With historical past inside attain, LeBron selected basketball purity as an alternative—discovering Rui Hachimura for a game-winning three on the buzzer. The streak died, however the second turned a masterclass in selflessness.

12. Anze Kopitar Announces His Retirement

For twenty years, Anze Kopitar was the heartbeat of the LA Kings. So, when the captain announced the 2025–26 season would be his last, it felt like time slowing down. A two-time Stanley Cup champion, Kopitar exits not loudly, however reverently—one of many biggest leaders Los Angeles hockey has ever recognized.

11. UCLA Stuns Penn State Amid Chaos

October 4, 2025, delivered one of many strangest days in school soccer historical past. Winless UCLA, recent off firing its head coach DeShaun Foster, shocked No. 7 Penn State on the Rose Bowl in a 42–37 upset that rippled across the sport. Coaching firings followed, lawsuits were filed, and rumors of a transfer to SoFi Stadium swirled—however for one evening, UCLA owned the chaos.

10. King James Confronts Stephen A. Smith

It wasn’t scripted, and it wasn’t refined. LeBron James confronted Stephen A. Smith courtside throughout a Knicks vs. Lakers sport at Crypto.com Arena, drawing a clear line between criticism and household. The second went viral immediately, igniting debates throughout sports activities media—however at its core, it was a father standing up for his son, reminding everybody that LeBron the dad nonetheless comes earlier than LeBron the legend.

9. Clippers Collapse: Kawhi Leonard Scandal and Chris Paul’s Exit

Nothing unraveled quietly for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2025. A first-round playoff exit gave solution to a stunning scandal involving Kawhi Leonard and alleged salary-cap circumvention. Then got here the intestine punch—Chris Paul, a franchise icon, sent home and released midseason. It was a year marked by fractures, not banners.

8. Clayton Kershaw’s 3,000th Strikeout — Then Goodbye

Dodger Stadium rose when Clayton Kershaw recorded strikeout No. 3,000 during the first week of July. Two months later, hearts sank when he announced 2025 would be his last season. Kershaw didn’t fade away—he finished with another World Series ring, closing a Hall of Fame career outlined by loyalty, excellence, and charm.

7. Dodgers Celebrate a Second Straight World Series Parade

Downtown Los Angeles stuffed once more with blue in November. The Dodgers’ back-to-back World Series parade felt louder, freer, and extra defiant—proof that greatness wasn’t unintentional. From confetti-covered streets to Dodger Stadium speeches, it was a celebration of sustained dominance in a metropolis that calls for it.

6. LAFC Signs Son Heung-min

It’s at all times Sonny in Los Angeles. The City of Champions welcomed a world celebrity when LAFC signed Son Heung-min in a record-breaking MLS move. The South Korean icon introduced magnificence, pace, and star energy, immediately elevating the league’s profile. By season’s finish, Son had delivered magic—and the MLS Goal of the Year—to the town.

5. Freddie Freeman Makes World Series Walk-Off History

Six hours. Eighteen innings. One swing. Freddie Freeman’s walk-off homer in Game 3 of the 2025 World Series etched his title into baseball immortality. Already the proprietor of the first World Series walk-off grand slam, Freeman turned the primary participant ever to do it twice—turning exhaustion into ecstasy on baseball’s greatest stage.

4. Rams Play for a City on Fire

Displaced by wildfires, the Rams carried Los Angeles to Arizona with them. In Glendale, they delivered a dominant 27–9 Wild Card win over the Vikings, powered by protection and resolve. It wasn’t simply a playoff victory—it was a tribute to a metropolis hurting, watching, and believing.

3. Shohei Ohtani’s NLCS Game for the Ages

Shohei Ohtani didn’t simply dominate Game 4 of the NLCS—he redefined chance. Six shutout innings. Ten strikeouts. Three residence runs. Baseball had never seen something prefer it, and perhaps never will once more. Ohtani’s masterpiece clinched the pennant and cemented his place among the many sport’s immortals.

2. Luka Dončić Is Traded to the Lakers

The NBA world stopped when Luka Dončić turned a Los Angeles Laker. The blockbuster deal sending Anthony Davis to Dallas reshaped the league overnight, pairing Luka with LeBron James in Hollywood. It was daring, dangerous, and unforgettable—the sort of transfer solely the Lakers could make.

1. Dodgers Win Back-to-Back World Series in a Game 7 Classic

Game 7. Everything on the road. Miguel Rojas tied it with history, Will Smith gave it life, Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered on no relaxation, and Mookie Betts ended it with a double play. The Dodgers’ comeback win over Toronto crowned them back-to-back champions—the primary in 25 years—and sealed 2025 as one other chapter in Los Angeles’ reign because the City of Champions.