theScore is ringing in the new year and looking ahead with anticipation. While 2024 provided many indelible sports moments, 2025 promises to deliver its share of memorable events and historic achievements. Below, we're counting down the 2025 storylines that intrigue us most. Our five-part series continues with items 10-6.
Follow the entire series this week:
10. Hamilton, Ferrari take aim at Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton is switching teams for the first time in 12 seasons.
Hamilton, arguably the best Formula 1 driver ever, announced prior to the 2024 season that he'd be joining Ferrari on a multi-year contract. The move was one of the biggest since the sport's inception considering Hamilton and Mercedes' pairing is the most successful in motor racing history. The 39-year-old won six drivers' championships with the iconic outfit and has a joint record of seven individual titles. Lewis also holds the milestone for the most wins and podiums, the majority of which he earned with Mercedes. The rest came during his six-year tenure at McLaren, who use a Mercedes engine.
However, Hamilton has sustained multiple setbacks in the past three seasons. He recorded the first winless campaigns of his 18-year career in 2022 and 2023, as his car lacked competitiveness. Meanwhile, Red Bull's Max Verstappen has dominated by winning the title in the last four consecutive years.
But Verstappen experienced several performance struggles in 2024, while Ferrari performed relatively consistently. A change of scenery and a strong driving partner in Charles Leclerc could give Hamilton the edge to chase a record-breaking eighth drivers' title. Racing for Ferrari and breaking his tie with Michael Schumacher would be the stuff of legends. - Sarah Wallace
9. Canadian Stanley Cup champion at last?
It's one of the most perplexing trends in pro sports: no Canadian-based NHL team since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens has won the Cup. Seven have competed in the Final over the past 31 years, including several - such as the 2011 Vancouver Canucks and 2024 Edmonton Oilers - who lost in Game 7.
The drought is part statistical anomaly (how can a group this size go so long without a single championship?) and part mismanagement (some very lean years in each market).
Five of Canada's seven teams are currently in a playoff spot. The Calgary Flames and Ottawa Senators are just happy to be in the mix this deep into the season, while the other three have legitimate shots at challenging for the Cup.
The Winnipeg Jets set a record for most wins in the first 15 games of a season and, at the 39-game mark, own the best record in the league thanks to a stellar power play and superb goaltending. The Toronto Maple Leafs - perennial playoff chokers - are thriving under new coach Craig Berube and sit atop the Atlantic Division. The Edmonton Oilers, who boast two of the five best players on the planet in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, are third in the Pacific.
Maybe this is Canada's year. - John Matisz
8. Clark's sophomore season
Three things in life seem guaranteed: death, taxes, and Caitlin Clark making basketball history.
Clark is one of the WNBA's generational talents and has been grabbing headlines for as long as she's played. After becoming the top scorer in NCAA D-1 history and making the NCAA Tournament final, Clark went to the Indiana Fever as the first overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. The point guard made an instant impact, breaking the rookie scoring record and single-season assist mark. Clark's production earned her Rookie of the Year honors and a spot on the All-WNBA first team - the first rookie to earn that distinction since 2008.
After a dismal start to the campaign, the Fever bounced back to end the team's seven-year playoff drought, which was tied for the longest in league history. Indiana is the second club to make the playoffs after starting 1-8 or worse.
The Connecticut Sun swept the Fever in the best-of-three opening round, but considering all Clark accomplished as a rookie, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think she could lead Indiana to the WNBA Finals as early as 2025. - Wallace
7. Travis Hunter, two-way NFL star?
Meet Travis Hunter, one of college football's most versatile players ever.
The Colorado wide receiver and cornerback occupies a rare space in football by playing almost every offensive and defensive snap. Not only that, but he's one of the best players in the country at both positions. Hunter's incredible 2024 season earned him a bevy of individual accolades, including the Heisman Trophy.
Hunter will enter the 2025 NFL Draft and intends to play both positions at the pro level. It may seem impossible, but he wouldn't be the first. The last starter to see action on both sides of the ball was Chuck Bednarik, who played center and linebacker from 1949-62. Colorado coach Deion Sanders was primarily an NFL cornerback who dabbled at wide receiver.
Hunter's ability to start at two positions will come down to logistical issues rather than talent. NFL players take fewer snaps than college athletes, and the risk of injury doubles when you take every snap in a game. The team that lands the highly touted prospect will decide whether the risk is worth the reward. - Wallace
6. What is Wemby's ceiling in 2025?
Victor Wembanyama exceeded all hype in his Rookie of the Year campaign despite a jumbled San Antonio Spurs squad making consistency difficult. He was involved in 14 different starting lineups in 2023-24, several featuring 6-foot-8 forward Jeremy Sochan at point guard.
Yet, Wembanyama still averaged a 21-point double-double and led the league in blocks with 3.6 per game, the third-best mark ever by a rookie. He also finished runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year. Trying to pin a ceiling on the rest of what should be an illustrious career is a fool's errand, but there are realistic expectations for growth in a shorter-term vision through 2025.
The 20-year-old is hitting nearly twice as many shots from deep per contest as he did as a rookie - and at a slightly more efficient clip. His current pace of 3.3 threes per game would join him with Lauri Markkanen and Karl-Anthony Towns as the only 7-footers to average three or more over a season. But neither boasts the defensive impact Wembanyama does. His first 50-point game on Nov. 13 against the Washington Wizards (18-of-26 shooting, 8-of-16 from deep) may have been a prophetic glimpse of his outside shot developing into a consistent threat.
Combined with the fact he already has two of the 27 recorded 5x5 games in NBA history, an emphatic start to season No. 3 in 2025-26 could produce the first serious MVP discussions for the French prodigy. They won't be the last, either. - Jonathan Soveta
Our series wraps Friday with the top five.
