He still wears the same cheeky grin behind his braces he had a year ago at Maryland.
“Tell them about how good it is to be home, glad to be here, good to see family,” a Pelicans staffer quipped.
Derik Queen stood at Capital One Arena seven hours before tipoff against the Wizards on Friday, surrounded by a familiar cluster of reporters — many of the same faces who followed him less than a year ago 30 minutes away at Maryland, and an hour from his hometown of Baltimore.
“My favorite thing is when [fans] sing the Anthem and they say, ‘O!’ ” Queen joked. “I hope they do that today.”
They did. Fans then grew even louder when his name was announced before tipoff. And by the end of the night, Queen had added another impressive performance to a rookie season that has already made him one of the NBA’s most compelling young players, recording his second triple-double with 14 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists during a 128-107 win.
“I only get to play here once a year to show off, just to play in front of family and friends and people that haven’t seen you play,” Queen said postgame. He was doused with water when he entered the locker room.
He joins elite company with Blake Griffin and Victor Wembanyama as the only rookies since 2000 with multiple triple-doubles during their debut seasons. Those around Queen aren’t surprised by games like Friday’s. And the personality they remember hasn’t changed in New Orleans.
“He carries that Baltimore swag, little asshole to him, but that’s what makes him a good player,” Pelicans center DeAndre Jordan said. “The sky’s the limit for him, I don’t want to put a limit on it. He’s just extremely talented.”
Jordan has taken a leadership role with Queen during his first year in the league — one similar to what Marcus Camby provided for him during his own rookie season with the Clippers in 2008-09, he said.
Camby would relentlessly quiz him: What are the opponent’s top three offensive actions? What are their out-of-bounds plays? What is your matchup’s favorite move? For the 18-year veteran, it was about preparing him to think the game at a higher level. Now Jordan sees it as a chance to pay it forward.
“I actually learned a lot. He always talks to me nonstop … about everything, just life, the game,” Queen said.
Queen’s professional career began with a controversial draft-night trade, when Pelicans executive Joe Dumars sent two first-round picks to acquire the center. With New Orleans currently sitting in the bottom three of the league, perceptions haven’t improved. Queen also missed all of training camp and the preseason after undergoing wrist surgery to repair a torn ligament.
Once he returned, however, Queen made a quick impression. By New Orleans’ 13th game, he had entered the starting lineup. He recorded his first 20-point game on Nov. 12 against Portland, then his first triple-double on Dec. 8 — the same night he poured in a career-high 33 points. He currently averages 12.9 points with 7.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists.
Queen believes that he’s adapted to the league quickly. For him, it was more about building self-confidence. He’s already faced players he grew up watching, including LeBron James, Nikola Jokić and Anthony Davis.
He said with a smile that James guarded him three nights earlier, and he “scored on him twice.”
The biggest adjustment, Queen said, has been going from “the guy” at Maryland to taking a step back as part of a deeper NBA roster.
“I picked the right school,” Queen said. “[I played with] a lot of older guys, played against some NBA guys. Just getting me ready to play against the best.”
Queen said he still keeps in touch with his former Terps teammates and texted former coach Kevin Willard days before the Wizards matchup.
Former Maryland reserve guard Ben Murphy bought NBA League Pass to watch all of Queen’s games and attended Friday’s game. He said that the deeper NBA 3-point line plays to Queen’s strengths as a natural playmaker with more space.
Murphy backed Jordan’s description of Queen, saying he was the only player who could make Willard laugh last season. Maryland assistant athletic director John Sinnett said that Queen’s personality was just as evident when the spotlight followed him during the Terps’ NCAA tournament run and following his buzzer-beater against Colorado State to send Maryland to the Sweet 16.
Sinnett recalled Queen being giddy as he lined up a stack of national TV appearances. What caught his attention was a spot on the “Pat McAfee Show.” Even minutes before going on air as Sinnett prepared his hotel room for the interview, Queen was still amazed that he was about to be on McAfee — a glimpse of the excitement and joy he brings to big moments.
“It’s no surprise to me that he was going to have this early success,” Sinnett said. “I think anyone who’s been around him in practice, or was a teammate or a coach would say the same thing that he is someone that has a gift for the game and certainly is going to take advantage of that.”
Queen’s former AAU coach Donald Thomas said that he has been around him since roughly sixth grade, though he first coached him directly during the COVID-shortened eighth-grade season when Queen played up a level and again the following summer at the 17U level. Even then, Thomas said, Queen carried himself with unusual confidence. Not in a cocky way, but with a belief that he belonged.
That confidence showed in Queen’s game, particularly as a big man who could pass and facilitate an offense. The coach said that Queen has always had that feel for the game, even when he was much younger, and now displays it on an NBA floor.
Watching Queen thrive in the NBA has been emotional for him, the coach said, pointing to Queen’s early triple-double and growing comfort at the pro level as signs of what he always believed was possible.
“I’m just really, really, really happy to him and his family that he was able to capitalize because we always said that he had the potential,” said Thomas, who coaches Team Thrill. “It makes everybody proud.”
Friday night was another glimpse of what Queen could become if his current trajectory holds. As Jordan said, there is no limit — All-Star selections, All-NBA teams, maybe even championships, as some around him hope, could be in his future.
He certainly made his hometown fans proud.
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