LAS VEGAS — It took just a quarter into his debut summer league game for New Orleans Pelicans center Derik Queen to show a glimpse of his playmaking skills.
At about the eight-minute mark of the second quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Queen sprinted up the right side of the court after a missed basket on the other end. The No. 13 overall pick from June’s NBA draft received a pass in the short corner all alone. He took one dribble toward the basket before a defender shifted over to contest. But in the process, the Timberwolves’ defender left his man, 7-foot-2 center Hunter Dickinson, wide open.
Queen gave a slight upward twitch as if he were going to attempt a shot, but at the last second wrapped the ball behind the right side of his body for a no-look bounce pass to a streaking Dickinson, who made an easy layup.
Queen was a silky bruiser in college last season for Maryland, leading the Terrapins in points and rebounds per game, but it’s his unheralded passing that could make him the next great playmaking big man, à la the three-time MVP for the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokić.
“I mean, he’s a great passer,” Queen said of Jokić, whose nickname is Joker. “I don’t think I pass as well as him, but I mean, I think it’s a baseline, it’s a start.”
Queen averaged 16 points, nine rebounds, one steal and one block for Maryland last year. He had an incredible showing in the postseason, scoring 31 points against Michigan in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament and hitting the game-winning, buzzer-beater against Colorado State in the second round of the NCAA men’s tournament that sent Maryland to the Sweet 16.
Queen finished his lone college season as Big Ten Freshman of the Year, a first-team All-Big Ten selection and a member of the All-Big Ten tournament team and Big Ten All-Freshman team.
Even with a 6-foot-10, 246-pound frame, Queen can move well for his size and has respectable ballhandling skills that make him an excellent finisher at the basket. His offensive game can best be compared to that of Slowpoke, the Pokémon character best known for taking his sweet time to move himself around. Queen’s Eurosteps are slow and methodical, confusing the defender of where — and when — his next step will take place.
In August 2024, Queen told former NBA player Matt Barnes, now a podcaster, that his game has been compared to Jokić, whose vision, ball placement and timing have made him one of the most versatile and unstoppable big men in NBA history. That, and Jokić never seems to be in much of a hurry.
“Cause we’re both slow,” Queen told Barnes.
Ryan Stetz/NBAE via Getty Images
Queen has good vision and appears to always have his head on a swivel to identify open teammates. Near the end of the second quarter of the Timberwolves’ game, Queen blew past a defender on his way to the paint. The center guarding the basket shifted over to collapse on Queen, which caused another defender to shift over to the center’s man. This freed up fellow rookie Micah Peavy, who Queen immediately saw and kicked out to him for an open 3-pointer.
Even when teammates aren’t open, Queen finds pockets to fit in tight passes, though that’s an area he wants to improve.
“It definitely opens up a lot,” he said of pocket passes.
The key to being a good playmaker, he said, is understanding the defensive scheme you’re going against. If the scouting report says the opponent typically collapses when the ball handler enters the paint, then Queen knows there should be an open teammate.
“So it’s just basically me implementing all the defensive sets I’ve been learning throughout the years of basketball that I’ve been playing and just knowing where everybody should be and then just making passes.”
All that said, Queen barely registered two assists per game last season at Maryland. There can be myriad reasons for that, including that Queen wasn’t the primary ball-handler and the offense didn’t feature him much in a playmaking role.
Queen said it was also “a mindset thing,” but added that the Pelicans’ system will allow him to be more of a facilitator. Queen had three assists against the Timberwolves and would have had a fourth if the defense had not forced a jump ball after a pass he made.
“Here I get to showcase it a little bit more because I probably have a lot of opportunities to score and maximize,” he said. “So, [I’ve] got to get my teammates involved.”
It’s not uncommon for someone with so few assists in college to become an elite passer and playmaker at the next level. Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green is the hub of an offense that has run like a well-oiled machine for more than a decade. Green averaged just 2.9 assists in four seasons at Michigan State. In three full seasons with the Sacramento Kings, center Domantas Sabonis averages more than seven assists per game. In college, he had seven assists in a game once in two years.
Queen has a long way to go before he can be mentioned in the same sentence as Jokić, who last season averaged 29 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Queen said he needs to clean up his ballhandling, work on precision passes, and become more of a perimeter threat. He attempted just 35 3-pointers in 36 games last season, converting on 20% of them.
But after a couple of summer league games, the seeds are being planted for Queen to join the list of great playmaking big men in the NBA.
“You see flashes of how good he’s going to be,” Pelicans summer league coach Corey Brewer said. “And for him, it’s good to get the first game out the way. The next game, trust me, he’ll be a lot better.”
Leave a Reply