It’s become an annual tradition to predict the year ahead in Las Vegas sports here, and last year was almost certainly the most accurate the exercise has ever turned out. We nailed the Las Vegas Aces winning an improbable third WNBA championship in four years, the Vegas Golden Knights getting ousted in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers, and the A’s breaking ground on their new stadium on time. But not everything went perfectly according to forecast. The Raiders didn’t go into the season with a coach-quarterback combination of Antonio Pierce and Sam Darnold, though they may now wish they would have after a dreadful 3-14 campaign with Pete Carroll and Geno Smith. The auto racing prognostications were also way off, as neither Kyle Larson nor William Byron won in two races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Lewis Hamilton was a non-factor in F1’s 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix. Let’s pare it down and focus on the five biggest sports teams for 2026. Here are predictions for what lies ahead.

Las Vegas Raiders

For the first time in seven seasons in Las Vegas, the silver and black finally fully commit to a rebuild over the next three months.

They make a polarizing head-coaching hire in Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, a celebrated No. 1 overall draft pick of Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, and a controversial trade of edge rusher Maxx Crosby.

They get an extra first-round pick this year as part of a trade package with the Baltimore Ravens for Crosby and use it on Texas A&M wide receiver KC Concepcion.

Mendoza clicks with both Concepcion and superstar tight end Brock Bowers in his first season with the Raiders, which show progress down the stretch to go 7-10—their best record in three years.

Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights finally get healthy and show their top-tier potential down the stretch of the season behind an unforeseen goal-scoring surge from Mitch Marner and the re-emergence of goalie Adin Hill as the primary starter.

They narrowly finish second to the Oilers for the Pacific Division title, but exact revenge with a six-game playoff series victory over the rival to get to the Western Conference Final.

The historically dominant Colorado Avalanche are too much for a shot to get to the Stanley Cup Final, however, and beat the Golden Knights in six games.

Vegas will win another Stanley Cup with Jack Eichel and Marner as the faces of the team, but it won’t come this season.

Las Vegas Aces

The labor dispute between the WNBA owners and the player’s association lingers, and the 2026 season is severely limited as a result.

The shorter schedule gives the Aces less time to work out another round of early-season struggles and find their ideal rotations before the playoffs. Two-time defending Most Valuable Player A’ja Wilson is too dominating to let Las Vegas fall too far, but it drops two spaces in the standings from last year to the No. 4 seed.

That sets up a showdown with the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx and healthy 2026 MVP Napheesa Collier, who outplays Wilson in the semifinals en route to her first WNBA championship.

Athletics

Las Vegas’ future Major League Baseball franchise goes 5-1 during a six-game stretch from June 8 to June 14 playing at Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin against the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies.

They stay hot all summer in their temporary home of Sacramento, California, as construction continues on their planned $2 billion stadium on the Strip and only narrowly end up missing the playoffs with an 81-81 record—their best since 2021.

The continued development of young players like Nick Kurtz, Jacob Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom adds more buzz to the team’s 2028 permanent arrival in town.

UNLV

For the second straight year, Scarlet and Gray fans are left without a team to root for in either NCAA basketball tournament.

The Lady Rebels can’t overcome San Diego State in the Mountain West tournament championship game and must settle for another WBIT appearance. They get a lot closer than the men’s team, which improves down the stretch but goes one-and-done in the Mountain West tournament and looks ahead to coach Josh Pastner’s second year in the 2026-2027 season.

The UNLV football team will meet a better fate. New quarterback Jackson Arnold isn’t as electric as the outgoing Anthony Colandrea for second-year coach Dan Mullen, but he’s serviceable enough to help UNLV win its first conference title in 32 years in the new-look, weakened Mountain West.

Defense is the big story as the unit goes from one of the worst in the nation in 2025 to a fringe top-25 performer with the return of former defensive coordinator Mike Scherer, who recently joined Mullen’s staff.