For the previous couple of years, the Las Vegas Raiders haven’t been an excellent soccer crew. They’ve gained simply 18 mixed video games over the past three seasons, the sixth-fewest within the NFL. Additionally they gained simply 4 final season, ending tied for the fourth-worst document within the NFL (behind three groups that gained three video games). Over the long run, the Raiders have been even worse. They have been to the playoffs simply twice since 2002, and solely the decrepit Cleveland Browns have a worse document throughout that span.
However star edge rusher Maxx Crosby sees hope within the Raiders’ state of affairs, impressed by one other crew that not so way back was dropping lots of video games however just lately climbed the mountain and gained a championship: the NBA’s Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder.
“We simply noticed it within the NBA: OKC, only a couple years in the past, was one of many worst groups within the league,” Crosby mentioned, per The Athletic. “However they’d lots of younger guys, they trusted the method, they developed and now they’re the world champions. We’re making an attempt to win. I need to win so badly. I put all the things into it. I would like everyone else to suppose like that. And that is been my aim, simply bringing as many guys alongside as I presumably can.”
Crosby’s proper. The Thunder went 22-50 within the COVID-shortened 2021 season, then 24-58 and 2022. They considerably surprisingly confirmed dramatic enchancment in 2023, going 40-42 and dropping within the play-in match. The final two years, they’ve gained the highest seed within the Western Convention, going 57-25 in 2024 and 68-14 in 2025. Within the latter season, they’d the most effective level differential of all time and gained the primary title in OKC historical past, led by the league’s MVP (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) and probably the greatest defenses in current reminiscence.
The Raiders … will not be in the identical place because the Thunder. At the least not within the one the Thunder had been in coming into the 2024-25 season. Oklahoma Metropolis had simply gained 57 video games and misplaced within the second spherical of the playoffs to the eventual Western Convention champions, was armed with a participant who had simply completed second in MVP voting (SGA) and two worthy co-stars with All-Star potential (Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren), plus arguably the deepest roster in all the league, with gamers like Lu Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso, Aaron Wiggins, Cason Wallace and extra able to contributing at a excessive degree not simply within the common season, however throughout the playoffs. And so they had all that ammo regardless of being one of many youngest groups within the NBA.
After all, it appears unlikely that Crosby was evaluating final season’s Raiders to this season’s Thunder. That might be loopy. Once more, they went simply 4-13 final season. That is very very similar to the 2022 Thunder going 24-58. So, maybe Crosby is merely hoping that his crew can take the sort of step ahead that the Thunder took in 2023, the place they stepped into the fringes of the playoff race in a means that stunned lots of onlookers.
How to bet Las Vegas Raiders in 2025: Super Bowl odds, win total, props, best bets and what you need to know
R.J. White
The Thunder entered that season with an over/beneath of simply 23.5 wins and had been tied for the worst title odds within the NBA. No one anticipated them to be good. The Raiders are coming into this season with an over/beneath of simply 5.5 wins at FanDuel Sportsbook. They’re +310 to make the playoffs and +10000 to win the Super Bowl, odds that rank sixth-worst and seventh-worst, respectively, within the league. No one expects them to be good.
The distinction right here is that the Raiders haven’t got anybody who’s remotely equal to SGA. Geno Smith is a heck of quite a bit higher at quarterback than what the Raiders had their final yr with Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder, however he’s quite a bit nearer to being a league-average quarterback than he’s to being an MVP. Vegas might be hoping that Ashton Jeanty might be that sort of participant, however working backs simply do not drive NFL success in the identical means that superstars do within the NBA. They’re very depending on crew context, and the Raiders’ crew context is, kindly, not nice.
They’ll want to drag an inside straight to even be aggressive within the AFC West, not to mention within the convention as a complete. They play in the identical division because the Kansas City Chiefs, who win the division yearly. And so they play in the identical division because the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers, every of which made the playoffs final season. The Raiders have six video games towards these groups, plus 4 towards the NFC East. They do luck out and play the AFC South, however that is chilly consolation for a crew that was very dangerous final yr and has an above-average strength of schedule.
Perhaps all the things does work out for the Raiders they usually make a push for a wild-card spot. It appears extremely unlikely, however stranger issues have occurred earlier than. It is laborious proper now, although, to see the trail to them rapidly turning into one of many absolute best groups within the NFL and the Super Bowl champions. Smith will flip 35 years outdated in October and is probably going coming into the decline part of his profession. If the Raiders do not win large very quickly, it is extra doubtless that they will be beginning another time than hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. And the thought of them successful quickly appears fairly outlandish contemplating their state of affairs.