Hours before the biggest start of his life against Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic, Derik Queen took a seat in a row of chairs between the New Orleans Pelicans’ two practice courts following a recent morning shootaround.
The 20-year-old center acts his age and has a kid-like joy. He has a smile filled with braces and an endearing cartoonish laugh that not even the Pelicans’ sinking season has spoiled.
“That’s exactly what he is — a kid,” DeAndre Jordan, who won a title with Jokic in 2023 and is now mentoring Queen in New Orleans, told ESPN. “He still got a little baby fat.”
Queen is the face of one half — along with No. 7 pick Jeremiah Fears — of the Pelicans’ future for which new executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars paid a steep price.
On draft night, the Pelicans selected Fears, then traded the No. 23 pick and an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 13 selection, where they selected Queen. It instantly became one of the most scrutinized draft trades in recent memory.
“Everyone I talked to after the draft were like, what the f— were they doing?” one Western Conference executive said of the Pelicans’ draft trade. “… Queen obviously has some talent and skill and could very well end up being a very good player. Maybe it turns out that it is not that bad of a trade if this kid turns out to be a player.”
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There are nights when Queen looks like the steal of the draft, such as when the 6-9 former Maryland star became the first rookie center with a 30-point triple-double in NBA history on Monday against the San Antonio Spurs. But as the injuries and losses pile up — the latest gut punch coming in yet another weekslong injury to Zion Williamson, with New Orleans owning the league’s worst record at 3-22 — the trade for Queen looks even riskier.
The Pelicans might not benefit from what is expected to be a loaded draft at the top next summer. Regardless, Dumars believes Queen and Fears will prove him right, even though several opposing general managers say they would have never traded an unprotected first-round pick.
“I get it. So much of today’s NBA narrative is around picks and different things like that,” Dumars told ESPN. “I’m trying to build culture here with some really good young players, and I gave up some draft capital to do that.
“And I love the two young players we have. I hope that doesn’t get lost in all of this.”
Queen hears what people are saying about him and the trade that still surprises the NBA.
“I’ve been [hearing] it all my life,” Queen said. “Like everybody hated me [before the season started]. I played a little bit at the beginning, and the whole media was hating me. And then once I got to that Charlotte game [and had 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists on Nov. 4], the whole media started liking me.
“[I’m used to] pretty much people not liking me at one moment, then liking me later on in life.”
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Derik Queen denies Memphis Grizzlies with block
Derik Queen with the massive block at the rim
SITTING INSIDE HIS office that looks out to the Pelicans’ practice courts, Dumars explains what he wants to build in New Orleans. It’s Nov. 19. The Pelicans are hours away from dropping to 2-13 against Denver.
Five days prior, he fired Willie Green after the team had started 2-10. Dumars did not see the Pelicans establishing an identity or a certain style of play on the court.
“You’re going to go through some rough patches, and that’s OK,” Dumars said. “But you [want to] build an organization with really committed people to being first class in how we do things, carry ourselves and want to be viewed around the league.
“And that’s not an overnight thing. You have to build that.”
Since he joined the franchise on April 16, he’s been active in trying to do just that. He hired Troy Weaver, former Pistons GM, as senior vice president of basketball operations. And then in June, Dumars traded Indiana’s 2026 first-round pick back to the Pacers for their 2025 first-round pick, which became the No. 23 selection. Just five days after the deal, Tyrese Haliburton tore an Achilles in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The Pacers have won just six games this season, and that 2026 pick is looking like a lottery selection.
Seven days after that trade with Indiana, Dumars sent CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future second-rounder to Washington for Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey and the 40th pick, which the team used to draft Micah Peavy. Poole, though, has missed the past 18 games due to injury. Williamson is hurt again, and Dejounte Murray hasn’t returned from an Achilles injury yet this season.
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Dumars, the Hall of Fame guard with the Bad Boys Pistons, assembled championship chemistry as the president of basketball operations in Detroit with Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace and Tayshaun Prince. But he also authored one of the all-time draft mistakes by taking historic bust Darko Milicic second over Carmelo Anthony in the 2003 draft.
Now he’s taking a leap of faith once again on another big man.
“It’s ironic how people only remember certain things,” Dumars said. “We went to the conference championship [six consecutive years].
“But it is how society is, right? I accept that.”
Going into the draft armed with the No. 7 and No. 23 picks, Dumars said he identified the two players he wanted most: Fears, the Oklahoma point guard who turned 19 in October, caught Dumars’ eye with his talent, speed and “maniacal” focus.
And Queen, who Dumars believes possesses attributes that can’t be taught, at a position that is becoming more versatile thanks to a player such as Jokic. Weaver also had plenty of familiarity with the Maryland product through his strong connections to the area, his role in the Wizards’ front office as a senior advisor last season and his son, Thomas, being a graduate assistant on Maryland’s coaching staff.
“We looked at the lottery this year and said, ‘Wow, it’d be great if we could get both of those guys, and it may cost us,'” Dumars said. “But if you truly believe they can be foundational pieces for your success long term, then we’ll do what we have to do. It simply came down to we have this guard that we really, really love and this young big that we really, really love. Let’s go for it.
“I know we paid a big price for it, but it’s not like we’re unhappy with what we got. We like what we have as foundational pieces for the long term here.”
Through the first 25 games, Fears and Queen have combined to score the fourth-most points by any rookie duo in the past 15 seasons, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
“We’re only Year 1 into this,” Fears told ESPN. “We got a lot more to go. But we going to continue to show everybody we have something special in New Orleans.”
DOWN 20 TO San Antonio, Queen began a second half that capped a historic night. In the third quarter alone, Queen scored 21 points, made all six of his shots and went 9-for-9 from the free throw line.
He led a furious comeback by scoring a career-high 33 points to go with 10 rebounds, 10 assists and four blocks — the first rookie to put up a line such as that since blocks were first recorded in 1973-74. However, he missed what would be an open go-ahead 3 with 6.8 seconds left before New Orleans lost to the Spurs 135-132.
Displaying his versatility by playing like a point guard while acting as the hub in half court on offense, Queen joined LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox as the only players in NBA history with a 30-point triple-double before turning 21. He is also the first rookie to finish with 10 field goals, 10 free throws, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a game since Michael Jordan in 1985, according to ESPN Research.
“I really like him a lot,” said Golden State’s Draymond Green — who took Queen aside to give him tips on positioning during a Warriors’ 124-106 win in New Orleans on Nov. 16. “He’s great with the ball. He’s got a lot of moves. He got all the shimmies, the posts and great touch, can really pass. He can be really good, and obviously great size.”
In a duel in Dallas against former Montverde Academy teammate Cooper Flagg on Nov. 21, the Baltimore native showcased some of the playmaking skills and deft footwork he honed as a 10th-grader in workouts with Anthony, a local legend.
With under five minutes remaining in the third quarter, he grabbed a rebound and pushed the ball upcourt. As Dallas point guard Brandon Williams stepped in front of him, the 6-9 Queen switched dribbling hands before delivering a behind-the-back pass to a streaking Trey Murphy III for a dunk.
“So good,” one head coach texted. “Queen is good.”
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One Western Conference assistant coach who has faced the Pelicans twice this season said Queen has already improved from the first meeting when the rookie wasn’t even on his team’s advanced scouting report. Queen, who was inserted into the starting lineup after Green’s firing, is averaging 12.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists but is only shooting 2-for-18 from 3.
“He definitely doesn’t look the part,” the assistant coach said. “But [he plays beyond his years] like an old soul out there. He knows when to speed up, when to slow down. He has this intelligence of the game. He tells guys where to cut. He’s throwing the ball over the place to shooters.
“He’s a left-handed driver, and we told our guys not to let him go left, and he got left all night, made big shots, not scared.”
Neither is Fears, who is averaging 15.4 points, 3.1 assists and 36.9% shooting from 3. He recently became the fourth youngest to ever score 20 or more points in three straight games behind LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Flagg.
“I love his fearlessness, his swagger, his approach to the game. His speed,” Pelicans interim coach James Borrego said. “He belongs.”
During his first start against Jokic, Queen left an impression on the three-time MVP. In the second quarter on Nov. 19, Queen had the ball at the top of the key with Jokic sagging off him. Jokic shed a screen to stay in front of Queen, but the rookie froze Jokic with a high dribble. Then he paused, before driving past the flat-footed Nuggets center for a layup.
“I’m a little bit taller,” the 6-11 Jokic said when asked if he can see any of himself in Queen. “But I think that there is that style. Slow, crafty. I can see it, yeah.”
It’s just one of several deceptive moves that Queen used to finish with 30 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals against Jokic. He became the first center to outscore the Nuggets superstar in a game this season.
“I definitely see some flashes, for sure,” Jordan said of Queen’s early similarities to Jokic. “He’s such a young talent and the things that he does is a point-center creating shots and playmaking. So, you can see it, but I don’t want to put that pressure on him so early in his career.”
As the Pelicans have won just once in their past 16 games, Fears and Queen talk often about staying confident through the losing and mistakes. Fears knows there’s significant pressure on Queen to prove he’s worth the pick sent to Atlanta, something that could take years to validate.
“I know it probably weighs on his mind and on his shoulders a lot,” Fears said. “As long as he knows what he can bring to the table and proves it every single time, there’s not really much you can say.
“He’s going to continue to prove to Joe D, to prove to everybody else that [Dumars] made the right decision.”
