Derik Queen was one of the 30 NBA Draft prospects who had their NBA dreams realized in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday. And one of his first moves as an NBA player was a bit of a unique one, updating his LinkedIn account to inform his network of his \u201cnew position\u201d on the platform.<\/p>\n
While Queen was officially selected by the Atlanta Hawks No. 13 overall, he\u2019ll be going to the New Orleans Pelicans as part of a trade that will include a 2026 first-rounder going back to Atlanta.<\/p>\n
In terms of the value given up by the Pelicans, many in the sports media space, including Bill Simmons<\/a> and Nick Wright, were incredibly critical of the move to trade up to select Queen. But Queen, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in his lone season at Maryland, appears quite eager to prove them wrong.<\/p>\n In a post on LinkedIn, Queen informed his network of his \u201cnew position\u201d in the Pelicans organization, letting Pelicans fans know how eager he is to meet them when he lands in New Orleans.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy to share that I\u2019m starting a new position as a Professional Basketball Player at New Orleans Pelicans!\u201d wrote Queen in his LinkedIn post on Thursday<\/a>. \u201cCan\u2019t wait to touch down in New Orleans and greet the fans!\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s far from the typical introduction post from a particular draft pick, which usually comes on X or Instagram, which the Pelicans\u2019 social media team poked fun at in a post on X shortly after Queen\u2019s post.<\/p>\n \u201cDerik Queen\u2019s draft night schedule: 1. Get drafted 2. Update LinkedIn,\u201d wrote the Pelicans on X.<\/p>\n Derik Queen\u2019s draft night schedule:<\/p>\n 1. Get drafted \u2014 New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) June 26, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n In at least one sense, Queen isn\u2019t your average 20-year-old kid entering the NBA. So it will be interesting to see if he can also separate himself from most of the other players in his draft class on the court as well in his rookie season.<\/p>\n \t
2. Update @LinkedIn<\/a> \ud83d\ude02 pic.twitter.com\/I2nag3eck8<\/a><\/p>\n