{"id":199498,"date":"2025-07-28T17:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T17:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/199498\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T17:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T17:39:10","slug":"new-orleans-pelicans-biggest-derik-queen-concern-after-2025-nba-summer-league-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/199498\/","title":{"rendered":"New Orleans Pelicans\u2019 biggest Derik Queen concern after 2025 NBA Summer League injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post New Orleans Pelicans\u2019 biggest Derik Queen concern after 2025 NBA Summer League injury<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When the New Orleans Pelicans traded back into the lottery<\/a> to select Derik Queen with the No. 13 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, they made one of the boldest moves of draft night. The front office sent out a future first-round pick, a 2026 selection, to make it happen. Queen wasn\u2019t a reach by any means, widely viewed as a late-lottery talent. However, using future capital to secure an early position placed pressure on his development.<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately, that development has already hit a speed bump.<\/p>\n

After showing promise in early Summer League play, Queen suffered a wrist injury<\/a> that required surgery. He\u2019s expected to miss at least 12 weeks before being re-evaluated. While the injury isn\u2019t expected to have long-term implications, it casts a cloud over his rookie year and raises the Pelicans\u2019 most pressing concern: Can Derik Queen catch up fast enough to justify the aggressive investment?<\/p>\n

Derik Queen\u2019s NBA style is rare but risky<\/p>\n

Queen isn\u2019t the prototype modern NBA big: he\u2019s not a lob threat, rim-runner, or switch-heavy defender. What he brings instead is touch, feel, and positional intelligence. Standing 6-foot-9, Queen\u2019s game is built more like a playmaking hub than a vertical spacer.<\/p>\n

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In college, he averaged 16.5 points<\/a>, nine rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game on 53% shooting for Maryland, anchoring their offense with a mix of footwork, touch, and poise, in the Las Vegas Summer League, which translated immediately. In three games, Queen posted 14 points, 11 rebounds, and over two assists per night, a strong start.<\/p>\n

He fits the mold of players like Nikola Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, and Alperen Sengun, who have leveraged elite IQ and creativity to become successful NBA bigs. But even those players needed time, and they benefited from consistent reps early in their careers.<\/p>\n

Here lies the biggest issue for the Pelicans: Queen doesn\u2019t possess the physical margin for error that many rookies lean on. He\u2019s not likely to beat defenders with raw speed or verticality. Instead, he creates every advantage from timing, angles, and craft.<\/p>\n

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And that means every missed rep, every delay in adjusting to NBA speed, spacing, and physicality, matters that much more.<\/p>\n

Missing training camp, preseason, and potentially early-season rotations deprive Queen of the on-court chemistry and learning curve essential to his archetype. When a player\u2019s strength is feel for the game, there\u2019s no substitute for playing time.<\/p>\n

Roster dynamics could add pressure<\/p>\n

The Pelicans have quietly built one of the deepest frontcourts in the league. Zion Williamson remains the focal point. Hunter Dickinson and Yves Missi are role players capable of holding down the paint. And new arrival Kevon Looney adds an experienced defensive presence and rebounding specialist.<\/p>\n

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Where, exactly, does Queen fit in?<\/a><\/p>\n

Before the injury, the hope was that Queen could earn rotation minutes behind or next to Zion, offering connective tissue between the perimeter and paint. But now, he risks falling behind in the pecking order, with coach Willie Green needing to prioritize health, chemistry, and veterans as the team fights for playoff relevance in a crowded West.<\/p>\n

Even if Queen is fully healthy by the new year, cracking the rotation after missing several months could be a steep ask.<\/p>\n

The timeline: 12 weeks before re-evaluation, puts Queen\u2019s return somewhere around late October to early November, at best. But re-evaluation doesn\u2019t mean immediate return. That\u2019s only when the medical team will determine the next steps. Factoring in ramp-up time, it could be closer to December before Queen is fully integrated.<\/p>\n

By then, the Pelicans may already have a set rotation. And with the West expected to be a battlefield, throwing a rookie into high-leverage minutes mid-season could be risky.<\/p>\n

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The concern isn\u2019t just whether Queen plays, it\u2019s whether the Pelicans will let him play once they\u2019ve committed to other options.<\/p>\n

The silver lining: What Queen can still control<\/p>\n

Despite the injury, Queen should be able to stay in shape. It\u2019s a wrist injury, not a leg or core issue. That means cardio, strength training, and body development can still be a priority. For someone looking to make a leap from college to NBA-level physicality, that alone is a win.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Queen can also take this time to dive deep into game film. Learning the Pelicans\u2019 offensive and defensive schemes, studying opponents, and mentally prepping for NBA reads are all ways to accelerate his transition, even without on-court reps.<\/p>\n

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The injury does little to change Queen\u2019s long-term upside. His game was never predicated on freak athleticism, which often ages poorly. Instead, his skills should only sharpen with time.<\/p>\n

If anything, this could be a redshirt-style rookie year, a slower start that sets him up for a bigger leap in Year 2. But for a Pelicans team that gave up a first-round pick to get him, the patience required might be tough to stomach.<\/p>\n

Caution, not panic<\/p>\n

Derik Queen remains a high-upside player<\/a> with a strong foundation. His interior touch, vision, and defensive awareness are all NBA-ready tools that don\u2019t show up in a highlight reel but matter in winning basketball.<\/p>\n

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But the Pelicans must now prepare for the reality that his impact might come later than hoped. They must carefully manage his recovery and their rotation, balancing the long game with immediate needs.<\/p>\n

In a year where New Orleans is looking to finally break out of the play-in rut and into the playoff tier, every rotation decision carries weight. And Queen, talented though he is, may now face the toughest path of all: proving his worth while starting behind the curve.<\/p>\n

Related: Why Pelicans got ESPN\u2019s only \u2018F\u2019 grade for 2025 offseason<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post New Orleans Pelicans\u2019 biggest Derik Queen concern after 2025 NBA Summer League injury appeared first on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[1307,7,803,4672,2462,2967,6,478,470,4073,4072,253,675,13711,4439,1726,1259,814],"class_list":{"0":"post-199498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-alperen-sengun","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-derik-queen","11":"tag-domantas-sabonis","12":"tag-hunter-dickinson","13":"tag-kevon-looney","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-new-orleans","16":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","17":"tag-neworleans","18":"tag-neworleanspelicans","19":"tag-nikola-jokic","20":"tag-pelicans","21":"tag-summer-league","22":"tag-the-pelicans","23":"tag-wrist-injury","24":"tag-yves-missi","25":"tag-zion-williamson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114932086534893434","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}